AP — BUOYED BY ORDERS, FENTON GLASS RESCINDS PLANS TO CLOSE

AVV 12-13 #722535

WILLIAMSTOWN, W.VA. (AP) — Buoyed by support from dealers and collectors, Fenton Glass Art Glass Co. is back in business.

The Williamstown-based company, one of West Virginia’s last hand-blown glassmakers, had announced in August that it would soon close. But Fenton Art Glass head George W. Fenton said in early December that there has been a surge in orders and the company has made progress in restructuring its finances.

Fenton Art Glass will accept orders for spring 2008, he said.

Fenton said the company will be smaller and it will produce and sell fewer items to smaller groups of dealers. The company also still needs to reach agreement with its vendors and lenders.

“There are several future hurdles, but we’re all hopeful that our company will be able to continue. Since our initial announcement last August, we have processed many orders for our 2007 products and received tremendous support from both collectors and dealers,” Fenton said in a news release.

“The dealer and customer response to the upcoming spring 2008 product offering will help determine our future,” he said.

Production of glass items for the spring offering is scheduled to begin within the next few weeks.

“We currently have about 120 employees, and we want to preserve those jobs,” Fenton said.

Fenton Art Glass is known for making handcrafted, hand painted art glass. Fenton’s grandfather started the plant in 1905 and the family continues to operate the plant.

The Fentons are famous for developing carnival glass, a distinctive look that marries iridescence with a patterned surface. Some companies had been doing patterns and others had been doing iridescence, but Fenton Art Glass was the first to combine them in the 1970s.

The company also is famous for hobnail milk glass, the opaque white, bubble-covered product that helped the company survive the Depression. It was produced into the 1980s.