Pair keep alive dying art of hand-cut glass

It's crystal clear that father and son Reg and John Everton have a sparkling tradition behind them and are keeping a dying art alive.

This week the family firm is celebrating 25 years of crystal glass cutting and engraving by hand at Dawn Crystal in Amblecote, Stourbridge.

The High Street shop is one of the last two of its kind along Stourbridge's once-famous Crystal Mile, with Tudor Crystal being the other. Reg, aged 67, has been cutting glass for more than 50 years after learning his craft at the age of 15 as an apprentice of Stuart Crystal. In the 1970s he became manager of Bridge Crystal in Cradley Heath.

Reg was made redundant but vowed to stay in the industry by setting up in business, calling the shop after his eldest daughter Dawn, now 43.

In 1990 John, now 36, joined his father who taught him to cut crystal.

And later John became a self-taught glass engraver.

Behind the gleaming shop display lies a busy workshop where the pair continue to survive, transforming blank crystal into unique and bespoke designs, just as they have always done.

But it is a dying art, grandfather-of-three Reg laments, due to modern methods like the diamond wheel – a circular cutter made from steel and diamond which has taken over from a hand-held cutter made of rough stone.

"We do work with diamond wheels but I also use the old method of stone to cut glass. The finish is far superior on the stone but it takes about three times longer to do.

"A lot of people who come in like to feel the sharpness of a cut, which you don't get on the diamond wheel.

"The drawback is stone cutting costs twice the price."

Reg blames diamond wheels for killing the glass industry because it allowed mass production of cut glass, flooding the market and diminishing its prestige image.

He says: "When I learned the trade everything was done on the stone. Everything was also done by hand."

It seems customers are still keen on the traditional designs, including cobweb, 'church window' style, and Reg's own 'Dawn' pattern.

But coloured glass is an extremely rare find nowadays, following the closure of five factories in the area.

"The demand for the crystal just isn't there anymore," Reg adds. "When I started here there was a company on Pensnett trading estate and it was absolutely packed on Sundays.

"People used to collect matching crystal decanters, tumblers and vases.

Everybody seems to want to get rid of it now." Even getting hold of blank glasses to engrave is a problem now.

Father and son are always pleased to see former glass factory workers who bring in their old-fashioned wares. Traditional techniques have paid off for the family firm though.

The Evertons' handiwork has been presented to the then Pope John Paul II at the Vatican after two women from Kingswinford commissioned a special piece to present to the Pontiff. Goblets were also made by the pair as a wedding gift for the president of Malaysia's daughter during the late 1990s, at the request of Birmingham officials.

Reg is showing no signs of giving up his skill, although he no longer works afternoons.

And John says he is happy to take over the reins and continue to pass the tradition down through future generations.