This is part of a year-long ‘Love for Local’ series called NB365: portraits of New Brunswick entrepreneurs, businesses, and organizations. Huddle is a media partner with Love for Local. Today we feature Kayla Dormer of Glass Roots Inc Canada, in Riverview.

The form of glassblowing is a technique that arose sometime in the first century in Syrian craftsmen, along the Palestinian coast. Gaining increased popularity by the Middle Ages, glassblowing remained a dominant industry that employed thousands.

As the process became more streamlined, taking artisans from the furnace room and into a larger production facility, the art of glassblowing lost a great deal of its authenticity. Today the technique has since shifted, allowing for artistic creativity to once again be applied to an otherwise diminishing industry.

Glass Roots is a local fine art gallery that offers creations from various local artisans such as glassworks, jewelry, pottery, paintings, specialty food and coffee items, fabrics, and more. You’ll also find a list of workshops, glass blowing classes, and art exhibits. It’s local and it’s global all at once, as the art form serves as the catalyst for the creation of community, one unique piece at a time.