In October 2019 and January 2020 Kitengela Hot Glass assisted to train the Afghan glassblowers to augment their unique skill set - the manipulation of window glass - to make bottles for the sale of saffron to promote the growth of this rare flower over that of the opium poppy.
A wonderful opportunity to ply our craft, we are plugged into the circle of history by participating in this venture.
As one of our core missions was to establish the skill of glassblowing in East Africa, Kitengela Hot Glass are uniquely privileged to be able to contribute to the survival of the craft further afield - in the ancient and venerated cultural city of Herat, Afghanistan.
Here is Mr Nasrullah demonstrating their working style in a Herati furnace built at our studio:
Glass making has been active in Herat for over 2000 years - in fact it is probably one of the places where glassblowing actually started. The family that visited Kenya for advanced training has been blowing glass for 8 generations.
