Lexington Glassworks set to open mid January in downtown Asheville

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Lexington Glassworks, a new glass blowing gallery and workshop, is set to open in mid-January, the owners told me Wednesday morning during a quick tour.

Billy Guilford and Geoff Koslow are long-time friends who went to college together, parted ways after school and are coming back together for their venture. Billy worked at the prestigious Pittsburgh Glass Center, while Geoff worked at a big production studio outside Austin, Texas (and was attending Penland School of Crafts, as well).

The two plan to offer everything from the $25 paperweight to the $10,000 chandelier, according to Billy, who said the custom lighting work is their specialty. Lexington Glass is located in the former Brown’s Automotive shop on South Lexington Avenue (behind the Aloft Hotel). Guilford and Koslow did all renovation work on the 5,000-square-foot, 1940s-50s era building themselves. They even built their own furnace, which will hold 300 pounds of molten glass headed at 2,200 degrees.

Guilford and Koslow have backgrounds in offering glass blowing demonstrations, and their plan is to have demonstrations going constantly. They will also devote space to a retail gallery/shop, and they plan to open a small bar inside sometime in the future.

Lexington Glassworks is scheduled to open in mid January. An official grand opening party will be held about six months after, they said.