“
Right away, I knew I loved it, and I was probably going to be a glassblower. It suited my style, it’s very music of the moment, it’s freehand, and intuitive. ”
lobster seasonally to subsidize the business and would travel to Ontario and Atlantic provinces to attend trade shows. With the growing success, sales were increasing, and then the pandemic hit, trade shows stopped, and the fate of the business was unknown. It was during this uncertain period that Curtis, like most successful entrepreneurs, was able to pivot. While in Ontario, Curtis met some fellow glassblowers. The owners of the studio, Kingston Glass, invited him to visit. Curtis and his partner, Charlotte MacLeod, moved their family to Ontario for a year and rented a cottage just outside of Kingston. Curtis would work at the studio but would also rent studio time on the weekends to stock his Grass Roots gallery in Riverview, New Brunswick. It was at this time that Curtis decided to move his business online. Orders poured in, but what surprised Curtis was that the majority of the orders were coming from and being sent to New Brunswick. “That’s when I realized that New Brunswickers thought of us as ‘their’ glassblowers. That connection meant everything; that was the roots I’ve always wanted,” says Curtis. This new insight and success pushed Curtis and his partner, Charlotte, to make another bold move. With their children in tow and the future unknown, they sold the homestead and set their sights on the city of Saint John. Launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new urban studio in uptown Saint John. As part of the campaign, they offered a thirty-tier rewards system where you would receive a glass object if you pledged a certain amount of money, but the gift wasn’t received until the kickstart hit its target goal and the move was complete. Against all odds, the campaign raised an incredible $40,000 in just six weeks. “Saint John was a visual art city,” explained Curtis. “We knew the cruise ship industry was happening here. We love that it’s an industrial city and it has all these brick buildings. You could live an urban lifestyle but still have a real small town community feel and a community that supports each other.” It took the couple approximately nine months after moving to get the production up and running.
Their first Saint John studio was a 200 sq ft space in a basement with a small hobby furnace that held 50lbs of hot glass they could use in 1 day, but it takes 2 days to cook the glass. As business grew, he decided to rent the 2,500 sq ft next door to create a showroom. The couple transformed what was once a forgotten annex with a crumbling roof into a thriving glassblowing studio. After two years of relentlessly walking back and forth from building to building, having two landlords and two rent payments, they decided it was time to create a new vision for the brand and its brick-and-mortar location. A vision sparked during his travels through Europe. While attending a glass conference in Berlin and exploring Northern Italy and Belgium with his oldest son, he was struck by how European artisans and entrepreneurs embraced unconventional spaces, hidden basements, tucked-away alleys, or centuries-old stone nooks, turning them into vibrant cultural gems. Inspired, Curtis returned home and was determined to bring the overlooked building and its unused basement to life. After months of renovation, they moved out of their showroom in 89 Canterbury Street and reopened their gallery in the basement of 87 Canterbury—connected to the studio annex. The building was constructed in 1901, and features exposed bedrock, pilings built directly on top of granite boulders, and old-growth timbers 11” wide. To keep up with growing demand, Curtis built a new giant furnace, named“El Diablow” over 5 weeks this past winter (2024/2025). The exterior is made from a giant steel maple sap holding tank that he cut down to size. The new furnace has a massive crucible that can hold 400lbs of hot glass. “This has been a massive game changer for us; we now have 12 days’worth of hot glass to work with,” explained Curtis. Guests can slip into a back-alley entrance and discover the fiery world of glassblowing (free of charge). The studio features church pew seating to interactive demonstrations where the heat and risk of the craft are felt in real time; the experience is one of a kind. Guests leave with not only a new appreciation for the art form but also the opportunity to bring
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BUSINESS • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE 97
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