ThinkGlass Blog

INTERVIEW WITH MICHEL MAILHOT, THINKGLASS MASTER GLASS ARTIST
Michel Mailhot is the artist behind ThinkGlass amazing glass countertops, glass walls and all the other amazing glass products.

How long have you been a glass artist?
Approximately 34 years, but I have been selling my arts for about 30 years.  I now have a team of 16 people working in the workshop with me.

Why did you choose glass as a medium?
It’s glass that chose me!  Since I was a little boy, I always knew that I would make a career in the arts. My first contact with glass happened almost by mistake. I wanted to put glass pieces on a ceramic vase. While being fired, a piece of glass fell at the bottom of the kiln and took the imprint of the object at the bottom. I loved what I saw and I decided to continue to experiment with glass.
My first oven was a copper-enameling kiln. I now have 21 industrial kilns.

Why did you create ThinkGlass?
As an artist, in order to progress, you need to collaborate with others, because you cannot do everything by yourself. When I met Bertrand, I knew that we had to work together. A business partnership is like being married, you have to be complimentary. Bertrand and I, we make a great team!

What challenges do you face as an artist?
The real challenge was always and is still to make a good living out of my art. I spent my first years perfecting my techniques so I could have a workshop and some staff.  As ThinkGlass continues to grow, my challenge is now to find more time to continue to evolve as an artist and to spend more time working on my glass sculptures and glass murals. It is getting easier now as I have an incredible team working for me. Probably this fall or winter, I will start selling some of my glass sculptures and glass murals on our Web site.

With ThinkGlass, we now offer a lot of different products for commercial and residential clients, like glass countertops and glass walls, but did you know that when I started my career, I was making glass luminaries and glass sinks? I was the first glass artist in the world to make glass sink, but as everybody started making them, I decided to explore new horizons. (TO BE CONTINUED)