The Island’s go-to shop for spectacularly designed glassware is Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks in West Tisbury. Every kind of decorative glass object is offered, from tableware to lighting and sculpture. In particular, customers, many of whom are collectors of the shop’s items, can find candlesticks, vases, glasses, pitchers, and garden floats. This combination artisan gallery, studio, and shop is open year-round.
Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks features between 30 to 40 company designs, as well as the work of individual artists. One of the most popular pieces are the “Glass Pumpkins” offered in the fall. The latest design is a distinctive color pitcher with matching bowl called the “Farm House Series.” Deck prisms on display are traditionally used to bring light below deck in boats, or as decorative objects. The studio-shop is filled with translucent colors, different depending on the season.
Founded in 1992 as a summer business by Andy Magdanz and Susan Shapiro, who both have extensive careers in glass, Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks quickly grew into a year-round business. In a building constructed for the purpose, Glassworks has been managed since 2020 by Wil Sideman, founder of the studio’s visiting artists program.
Glassworks recently introduced a new “Sand Casting Experience.” Customers visit for this ticketed event, meet with Glassworks staff, and make one-of-a-kind sand molds. Each mold has hot glass poured into it, and customers take home a one-of-a-kind tile.
Exhibition pieces, often sculptural, are presented in the upstairs gallery on a two-week rotating basis for most of the summer. “The work of visiting artists finds a home up there,” according to Sideman. Artists from all over the world come to Martha’s Vineyard to participate in this visiting artist series, and leave behind works to be shown and sold through the MVG gallery.
Glassworks has four year-round employees, growing to five or six in the summer. “Everyone has a different skill set and background,” Sideman says, “which enables us to make a variety of items and styles.” One of the shop’s most recent employees is a student from the Charter School who started as an intern. After working at the shop for a year, they were hired as an employee. This fall they will head to Boston to study glass at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
The shop stays very busy throughout the year. While foot traffic slows after the holidays, the business uses this time to create custom work, large commissions, or new designs. At least twice a year, MVG offers Seconds Sales, where work that is less than perfect is sold at discounted rates. These sales generally take place on Memorial Day weekend and during the holiday shopping season. In early spring, the MVG team often turns off the 2,000° furnace for maintenance, and to tend to other projects. While not blowing glass during these weeks, the gallery and business are still open.
Customers are always invited to come to Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks and watch the team create handmade glassware.
Glassworks, 683 State Road, West Tisbury, is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Visit mvglassworks.com.
