Glassybaby

glassybaby is a company based in Seattle, Washington that produces handmade glass votive candle holders, called glassybaby, which are sold online and at stores in the Seattle area and San Francisco. The company donates money from sales to charities helping cancer patients with costs during chemotherapy and other charities "dedicated to healing".[1]

A typical glassybaby.

History

While undergoing cancer treatment in 1995, Rhodes's husband Emery produced small glass cups which Lee would light with tea light candles to find solace during treatments.[2] Encouraged by the demand from her friends, Rhodes hired local glassblowers in 1998 to produce more glassybaby, and began selling them out of her garage.[3]

The company was officially founded in 2001. In 2003, Rhodes set up a glassblowing studio in Seattle’s old Vitamilk Dairy building, since demolished.[4] In September 2005, Rhodes appeared on Martha Stewart's television show, which led to a singificant increase in sales.[5]

Also in 2009, Jeff Bezos purchased a 22 percent stake in glassybaby. A spokeswoman for Bezos suggested that he thought the company, which grossed over $2 million in 2008, could eventually reach the $100 million mark in sales.[4]

In 2011, glassybaby hired Greg Huey from the Alliance of Angels as President and COO.[6]

Locations

In 2007, glassybaby moved to a studio and retail shop in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood.[7] Two years later, the company opened additional locations in Seattle’s University District,[8] Bellevue,[9] and New York City.[10] The New York City store closed in 2012. Before closing, it was the subject of a New York Times case study which detailed the difficulties experienced by the store.[11] In 2013, glassybaby opened a retail outlet in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood.[12] In 2015, the company opened their first California hot shop in Berkeley, a 13,000 square-foot workshop and retail space. glassybaby also opened retail stores in Palo Alto and San Francisco.[13]

Charitable giving

From its inception, glassybaby has donated money from sales to charities that serve the needs of cancer patients. By October, 2017, glassybaby had donated more than $8,000,000 to 400 different charities.[14] Among the supported charities are the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, University of Washington Medical Center, Gilda's Club New York City, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, The Humane Society of the United States, and Conservation International.[14][15]

References
  1. "CEO: Giving money away helps company grow". CBS News. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  2. "Small Retail: It's the inner glow that sells handblown Glassybabys" Seattle Post Intelligencer 2/15/2008
  3. "Lee Rhodes Member Profile". AHALife. Retrieved 25 September 2014. From the beginning, Glassybaby had the mission to donate money from sales to help patients with those costs, so they could find healing.
  4. "Glassybaby grows with a little help from Jeff Bezos". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  5. "Seattle artist turns a simple design for candleholders into hot décor". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  6. "Greg Huey catches ‘startup bug,’ departs Alliance of Angels for Glassybaby" Geekwire 9/2/2011
  7. "From Cancer Patient to a Multimillion-Dollar Beacon of Hope". Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  8. “Glassybaby opens University Village Location” NWSource 5/19/2009 Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. “Glassybaby finds new home in Old Main” Bellevue Reporter 10/15/2009
  10. “The Flicker of a New Store” New York Times 10/15/2009
  11. "Seattle Firm Struggles in the Biggest Market" New York Times 9/29/2011
  12. "Glassybaby's Lee Rhodes lights the way in S.F." San Francisco Gate 11/8/2013
  13. "glassybaby Opens Glass Blowing Hot Shop In Berkeley" The Business Journals 9/29/2015
  14. "Glassybaby expands into Southern California – East Coast is next". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  15. "glassybaby: Gifts that Give Back". glassybaby. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
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