Fenton Art Glass is one of those companies far from being a mom-and-pop operation working out of the family garage. The company ranks among the world's foremost producers of handmade art glass. Fenton is the largest manufacturer of handmade colored glass in the United States, and the company is renowned for innovative glass colors as well as hand-painted decorations on pressed and blown glassware.

The Fenton Glass Company continues to be a family operated business, with family members participating in many different departments. The Fenton Glass Company is perhaps best known for its 'irridium' glassware (better known as Fenton Carnival Glass), but Fenton makes a number of other styles, including art glass.

The company was founded a century ago by Frank Fenton, who began his career working as a glass decorator for another company in the Ohio River Valley. Fenton Art Glass is well known for its beautiful and different colors as well as beautiful designs. Frank L Fenton worked to develop new and unusual colors.

Fenton put his company on the map in 1907 by experimenting with different color combinations until he came up with Iridill, better known as Fenton Carnival Glass.

For the next 15 years, Fenton Art Glass would produce the largest number of patterns ever in this beautiful product, and huge amounts of iridized glass would be sent to the four corners of the world to brighten homes. While the company made other decorative wares in custard, chocolate glass, mosaic inlaid glass, opalescent glass, and stretch glass, nothing surpassed the quality and quantity of their iridized glass.

Due to market saturation and the Great Depression, demand for carnival glass declined sharply in the late 1920s.

Fenton Art Glass Company began producing new items in several shapes as special orders for other companies during the 1930s. These items had small, sharp points in repeating rows. The design was called Hobnail. The pattern seemed popular, so Hobnail was introduced into the Fenton general line in opalescent colors in 1940.

Fenton barely survived a decline in the late 1940's by adding milk glass to its product line, which became a huge seller.

In the late 1940's, the top three members of the Fenton management team died, leaving Frank and Bill to carry the Fenton torch. In spite of other glass factories closing at a rapid rate, Frank and Bill led the Fenton factory through significant American growth for the next 30 years.

The first generation was gone. Factory manager Paul Rosenthal was responsible for Fenton’s glass colors, and his retirement in 1949 left another void. The generations passed on the books of glassmaking formulas and the techniques associated with it.

The Pacific Northwest Fenton Association

This association was formed for the primary purpose of educating collectors and the public about Fenton Art Glass through seminars, conventions, meetings and a quarterly newsletter.

For the collectors...