Fenton Art Glass Co. changes with the times

Fenton Art Glass Co. in Williamstown is shutting down its main furnace, ending production of its famous art glass after 106 years in business.

The news struck Fenton fans as a tragedy, and devotees flocking to the company´s last summer tent sale are sadly affected.

"It feels like we have so many losses in America anyways," Ellen Mead of Grand Junction, Colo., told the Daily Mail´s Jared Hunt. "This feels like another loss."

It does. Fenton is the largest manufacturer of handmade colored glass in the United States, and it will stop making the products that made it famous.

That is sad. But appearances could be misleading.

Fenton is a survivor.

When brothers Frank L. and John W. Fenton started up in Williamstown, the world was technologically very different from the market the company faces today.

Fenton has survived for more than a century by recognizing trends. It drew inspiration from the influence of Tiffany and Steuben, marketing through such giants as Woolworth´s and McCrory´s. It stayed alive during the Depression by switching to mixing bowls, tableware and perfume bottles.

It became a gift shop favorite all over the world.

It adapted to television, winning new fans on QVC.

Internet? No problem. Fenton has a dazzling website.

Meanwhile, another sea change had been building - a generational shift in consumer behavior. In a decade, people cut back on collectibles of all kinds and started greedily consuming electronics instead.

The number of gift shops, the company´s oldest portals to consumers, has fallen by 30 percent in five years.

It´s time for a change, and Fenton is at it again.

The company may retool and focus more on industrial glass and the specialized glass beads so popular in today´s jewelry.

Think it can´t?

Check out www.fentonartglass.com and look at "Frosted Crocus," "Lily Pond," "Frosted Margarita," "Monet´s Garden," "Cherokee," and "Queen of Harts."

Here´s hoping the skilled practitioners of this ancient art form win another generation of fans.