06/17/2026
REINTRODUCING — Dave-O’s Modern Glass!
Glass is woven into the fiber of West Virginia’s industrial and creative history. Over the last one hundred and fifty years, more than 400 glass factories, studios, and small concerns have called West Virginia home. Very little of that legacy industry remains; in the Huntington area alone, all of the storied glassmakers have long since shut down – Pilgrim, Viking, Rainbow, Bischoff, Owens-Illinois. Until 2025, only one – Blenko Glass in Milton – remained in this part of the state.
Marrowbone Glassworks was founded in late 2025 by a trio of former Blenko workers, and seeks to reverse the long decline in glass production in West Virginia. From the outset, Marrowbone has invited and valued the mentorship of the esteemed 72-year-old glassblower David Osburn of Milton.
Before retiring, Osburn was a talented and respected glass artist who came up through the ranks at Blenko. Osburn ran his own shop at Blenko through the turn of the twenty-first century, also lending his design eye and color techniques in series like the Mardi Gras vases. After Blenko, Osburn took over the facilities of the shuttered Gibson Glass factory in Milton as Osburn’s Modern Glass, from 2006-2013.
Osburn is a treasure-house of glassblowing techniques and glassblowers’ lore, and has mentored the team at Marrowbone Glassworks from day one. He joins Marrowbone more formally in the role of Resident Artist in 2026. Marrowbone is bringing Osburn’s Modern Glass back to life in a special webstore hosted at www.marrowboneglass.com.
New pieces by Osburn will be posted every Thursday at noon Eastern on the Marrowbone Glassworks website, and each piece will be signed by the maestro before shipment or pickup. All pieces on hand will be made by Mr Osburn himself - with assistance from the gaffers of Marrowbone. Appalachian glass artistry can only survive with intergenerational collaboration – and Marrowbone is proud to learn from Mr. Osburn.
