Our Heritage
Ashes into Glass was founded at Barleylands Glassworks in Billericay, England, and our jewelry continues to be made here today.
Every Ashes into Glass gemstone is crafted by our glassmakers and craftspeople, continuing the glassmaking tradition our founders began more than thirty years ago.
Our History
James Watts and Bill Rhodes met at school aged 12 and began working together as glassmakers in the early 1990s. Their early work included demonstrations at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In 1996, they established Barleylands Glassworks, a traditional glassmaking workshop, creating bespoke and specialist glasswork, including recreating antique glass for the street lanterns outside Buckingham Palace.
In 2006, a client asked them to create a memorial using her mother’s ashes. Drawing on their experience as glassmakers, they developed a way to hold cremation ashes permanently within solid glass, and Ashes into Glass was born.
Ashes into Glass Today
Twenty years on, our craft continues to be developed, refined and passed on from Bill and James to the next generation of glassmakers and craftspeople at Barleylands Glassworks.
