Highstone Glassworks
- Be Inspired By Functional Beauty

An artistic endeavor started by two people seeking to create a balanced life.

Founded in 2006 in Ely, Minnesota after Todd was "downsized" from the high school science department. He still loves to teach and has found glassblowning to be the perfect blend of "art" and "science" - of "physically active" and yet "thoughtful". Heather brings to HSGW her entrepreneurial and business-system-building skills. Todd returned to teaching at Ely High School in the fall of 2008 and their son, Oliver, was born in January 2009.

The quote that is painted on the wall of the "hot shop" is:

You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough. - Sparky Anderson

Educational Speaker

This is a 13 minute video (it is a large (86 MB) file, so it may take a while to load!) that Todd and his artist friend, Andy, put together.

Todd has had a number of speaking engagments at local schools (especially high schools), using "glassblowing" as a metaphor for life: raw sand, when melted and molded becomes beautiful, functional glass - much like each of our lives. We grow, we change, and we should be constantly refining ourselves. Our environment has a lot to do with that shaping process.

Please contact us if you would like to have such a presentation at your school , organization, business, or conference. If all travel expenses are covered, Todd's speaking rates are very reasonable (especially for non-profit groups and schools).

Glassblowing in an ancient art form.

Our business name, Highstone, is the English translation of our last name, Hohenstein, which is Germatic. In 2011 we plan to travel to Prague, where our family of Hohenstein's originated from - and there is also a lot of glassblowing that is still happening there.

Ely Minnesota is the gateway to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness and of course Minnesota is the "land of 10,000 lakes", so it is only fitting that a glassblowing studio be built in Ely.

Of the Five Elements, glass is the Water element (the other four are Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal). Look up "Feng Shui" to learn more. Each of our personal environments should balance these elements. The water energy is "faith in a higher power, composed, gentle" as described by Christy Mesojedec of Feng Shui Interiors (Aurora, MN). Contact her at fengshui@rangenet.com for your home or business environment consultation.