The Rural We: Andy Pyle And Leslie French
The couple have a glassblowing studio in Lime Rock, Connecticut, and are known for their glass sleeping kitty.
Partners in marriage and business, Andy Pyle and Leslie French are the owners of and glassblowers at Nunwell Glass in Lime Rock, Connecticut. Pyle is from England and came over the pond in the mid 80s at the invitation of a friend who was working at Bull’s Bridge Glass Works in Kent, where he met French. They started Nunwell Glass in 1990. Their sleeping cat figurine, sold mostly on Etsy, has become the backbone of their business The couple have been busy creating holiday ornaments, for sale now through Jan. 11 at the holiday pop-up shop at the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village. Here, Pyle fills us in on the Nunwell story.
While I was working at Bull’s Bridge Glass Works, Leslie walked in one day, responding to a help wanted sign. We were all cranking the music and having a good time, and Leslie thought, “I want to work here.” She started doing what we call cold work — grinding and finishing — and slowly was brought onto the hot side of the work. She became a glassblower and we began to make things together.
We started Nunwell as an entity in December of 1990 and got married in 1996. We were looking to move somewhere where we’d be able to have our own studio, and found it on Furnace Drive, which seemed a signal that it was the right place. It didn’t have an immediately workable shop, but it had a barn that was leaning heavily. I had to build a studio. When we were designing it, we made a conscious decision to spend a lot of money up front to buy the most efficient burner system for the furnace that was available at the time. We’re aware of glassmaking being energy hungry. We make small objects, so a small furnace keeps our carbon footprint under control. We’ve also developed a packaging system for our cat figures that uses no peanuts or bubble pack. And, of course, we don’t have to commute — we walk to work!
When we started Nunwell, we wanted to come up with something that would help sustain our business. We’re big cat lovers — although we’re down to one at the moment — and animal figures have been around in various glass forms forever. The industry uses a lot of molds for convenience, but our cats aren’t molded. We handmake them, coloring and shaping each one individually. Leslie does the coloring and setup, and I tease it into the shape of a sleeping kitty. They’re made one at a time. We retail them on Etsy and send them out wholesale to galleries and museum stories all across the country.
Before COVID, we used to sell our “fun” glass at farmers markets — we had a whole set of drinking vessels and vases just for that. We still make glass for fun and still get commissions, and our online business has grown. Sometimes we come up with an idea for a glass object and say, is this possible? Then we just have a go at it. We used to offer a glass “experience,” with people coming to our studio, but we don’t do it anymore because of COVID.
