Gillinder Glass

William Thynne Gillinder started his first glass company in the nineteenth century, Philadelphia Flint Glass Works. He was born in England in 1823 and learned his trade when he was only eight years old. He progressed quickly through the ranks of master craftsman and taught glass chemistry classes and wrote a book on glass making by the time he was twenty-eight years old. Gillinder eventually came to America where he tried to get work at the New England Glass Company in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, but discovered that jobs were hard to obtain in the glass industry. Gillinder finally moved to Pittsburgh in 1855 and got a job in a glass factory. He opened his first factory in 1861 and called it the Philadelphia Flint Glass Works. He relocated his business to Howard and Oxford Street and renamed the company Franklin Flint Glass Works. In 1863, he renamed the business to Gillinder & Bennett and by 1867, the company was known as Gillinder & Sons. His sons and grandsons continue to operate the glass manufacturing business and today, Gillinder Brothers manufactures glass for both commercial and industrial use.

After observing the popularity of pressed glass used by Sandwich and the New England Glass Company, he added pressed glass designs to his company. Gillinder also created methods for acid etching in making designs for decorative glassware and also creating frosted glass which is popular with antique collectors. Blown glass was also used in round and oval shapes, such as decorative glass Easter Eggs.

From 1861 to 1871 Gillinder made millefiori paperweights, inspired by those made by Bacchus and Sons back in England. The 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia showcased paperweights made by Gillinder’s sons that had frosted busts in the sulphide style, and both oval and round paperweights with sculpted edges.

Image Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons