frequently asked questions 

When was Kitengela Hot Glass Ltd. started? In 1990.

Who owns the company? Anselm Croze.

How did Anselm become involved in glass blowing? He went on a course in France in 1988 when he was 22 years old and fell in love with the medium.

When did you build the dome?  2 years later in 1990 over a four year period.

Why did you build it?  To emulate the shape of the traditional English glasshouses.

Where did your initial staff come from?  The people who assisted to build the studio and dome.

How do you make your products?  The age-old tradition of glass blowing, by highly skilled artisans of an antique craft

Is your glassware different in quality from the other glassware machine-made in factories? Yes, the hand-made aspect means that each item is unique, because we rarely use molds.

Where do you get your raw materials?  Scrap glass comes from the city, its environs and customers also bring their bottles to recycle.

Which criteria is used while training a glass maker/glassblower, i.e. what training level) is needed, age, locality etc?  Training to blow glass takes about 3-4 years. Aptitude and a feel for the material are useful attributes. Naturally you cannot be afraid of fire, one of the main tools of the job.

How do you colour glass?  With metal oxides. We also have a range of colours that we can apply to decorate and draw on the glass with, like red, pink & yellow, which we import. We also melt coloured bottles and create our own colour hybrids.

Who comes up with the designs?  Anselm Croze. We also work with several European designers in prototyping new product lines, especially for curated collections by our partners.

What range of colours and products do you have?  We've been doing this a long time. 35 years means we have a very large range of thousands of different products (sometimes too many). For colours, we are fairly restricted as there are not very many colours we can make using recycled scrap glass as it contains colouring of its own, hence the ‘clear’ colour has a slight tinge.

 Who are your clientele?  Anyone who enjoys beautiful objects. 

Do you export glass, and if so, using which means?  Yes, by train, road, air or sea, depending on the client requirements

How do you market your glassware?  Through our shops, social media, word of mouth & our website.

 Why is your glass ‘expensive’?  Hand-made glass is a very exacting skill, requiring years of expertise, and a lot of infrastructure.  It’s also fuel hungry (gas & electricity)  plus the costs of operating a business in Kenya are extremely high.

What is your colour schedule throughout the year? It varies according to the orders we have; we’ll generally run our pot colours - green, turquoise, teal, gold & grey twice a year.  We also have a clear furnace in all the time, for either pure clear objects or we add the imported coloured powders for a combination effect.

Can you machine wash Kitengela glassware?  Inadvisable – rule of thumb is hand-made : hand-wash.  

Can you put hot liquids in the glasses?  Generally not – one should try and reduce or avoid any thermal shock as much as possible.

What is the minimum order for glassware, e.g. drinking glasses?  12 pieces

Why?  To make a certain amount of one type of glass requires the whole team to get into a rhythm and get their “eye in” – this takes time to do so the first 12 or so glasses are unsuitable for a nice ‘set’, therefore small orders work out very costly for us. 

How do you transport the glassware to town without it breaking down your famous road?  Beautifully packaged in recycled shredded paper and newspapers.

How much glassware can you produce in a day?  Depends on the size and complexity of the objects - three murrine (a complex Italian decorative technique) pieces vs. about 200 simple goblets.

Do you use gas or electricity?  Our gas furnaces melt 1000kg of scrap glass per day.  We also use gas to reheat objects (about a ton a week) and a few years ago we were connected to the main grid, which helps with the machines in the metal workshop and in general. We also have a solar farm that runs the annealers.

Do your glassblowers get burned often?  No. One learns very quickly how not to burn oneself.

How is glass manufactured?  By melting silica sand with soda ash. We use waste glass that is already manufactured – hence the recycling aspect. 

Are your staff insured?  Yes.

How many staff members do you have?  100

Are all your workers Maasai?  No, we have a mix of many different tribes.

How do staff commute to work and where do they live?  We provide transport - in our wonderful ROSA.

Now that I want to visit your studio, will I be allowed to blow? We have a menu of experiences - please check the website for costs and info.  Ideally book and pay online so we can reserve your slot.

Do you employ students?  We are keen to have students/artists working with us. We sometimes have vacancies for full time positions too. Kindly email hr@kitengela.glass for further details.

Do glass blowers from overseas visit you?   Yes - we have had  master blowers from the Czech Republic, Australia, USA, Holland, England, Romania, Afghanistan & Canada.

Where in Kenya are your studios located, and how far?  Please do NOT go to Kitengela town. Head to Bomas of Kenya, turn on to the Magadi road for 6.5 km, passing the Multimedia College.   Just before Ongata Rongai left on to the tarmac road called Masai Lodge Road and follow signs for Nazarene University.  We are 3km further, on the Ongata Rongai side of the Athi Kapiti plains. On Google Maps we have Kitengela Hot Glass. A map is available to be downloaded at www.kitengela.glass.

Is your road fixed?  Mostly – it’s rocky in places, but all weather murrum. 

Where are your shops?  We have outlets at the Junction Shopping Center & Village Market malls, a small selection at Langata Link, our on-line shop as well as our store here at the studio.

How do you make your glass tables and chairs?  With a technique called dalle de verre – a concrete and steel matrix holding the glass together.

Are the tables and chairs all season?  Yes, for tropical climates. Regular waxing is recommended. We can also make them in epoxy for temperate climes.

How do you determine the price for your tables?  By the square metre.

Anselm. Aug, '25.