Hayden MacRae

“There’s always a second chance with glass”

That statement sums up my passion for working with glass. It’s a passion that emerged when I was a young boy. I experimented with putting pieces of glass in my family’s fire pit. It was always a surprise the next morning to see what emerged from the ashes.

The combination of elements—heat, glass and oxygen—attracts me today. It’s an organic way of working. A piece is always changing and what might appear at first as a mistake morphs into something else. Glass has a life of its own. I add my skill, my vision—blowing life into a piece.

About Fascapple Glass.

In the highlands of Scotland there’s a small village called Beauly, which sits about a half hour’s drive north of Inverness. The countryside is stunning and that’s where my Grandfather MacRae, known as Poppa Jock to my brother and me, grew up. He was born and raised on a croft (farm to us) known as Fascapple. Life was hard, but it was also filled with a sense of humour and community.

I’ve always believed it’s important to know your family’s history – know where you come from. This is my way of acknowledging the support and history on both sides of my family. Likewise, it’s my way of acknowledging the artists and master craftspeople of yesterday and today. Their history is essential to my future.