Glassybaby

Glassybaby began in 1995, when Lee Rhodes was in cancer treatment and her husband Emery made small glass cups she lit with tea lights [1]. Friends wanted them, so in 1998 she hired local glassblowers and sold the cups from her garage [1]. The company incorporated in 2001, and in 2003 she set up a studio in Seattle's old Vitamilk Dairy building, since demolished [1]. A turn on Martha Stewart's television show in September 2005 brought a significant jump in sales [1]. A Madrona studio and shop followed in 2007, then the University District, Bellevue and New York City two years later [1]. The New York store lasted until 2012 [1]. California came and went, from Presidio Heights in 2013 to a Berkeley hot shop in 2015, closed by the 2020 crisis [1].

Jeff Bezos bought a 22 percent stake in 2009, and a spokeswoman said he thought a company grossing over $2 million in 2008 could reach $100 million [1]. The giving was there from the start, for charities serving cancer patients [1], passing $8,000,000 to 400 charities by October 2017 and $13,000,000 by November 2022 [1]. In 2019 the company began etching a triskelion logo onto each piece, meant to suggest giving, craft and family [1].