Bob Hamon: One Of The Greatest Glassmakers In American History

On March 12, 2003, the world of contemporary art glass lost one of its pioneers and greatest masters when Robert Hamon died, at the age of 77. Robert Hamon's father, O. B. Hamon, founded Hamon Glass, in Scott Depot, West Virginia, in 1929. In the early 1960's, Robert Hamon brought the company to the forefront of the art glass movement, with his innovative designs, and masterful artistry. Along with his contemporaries, Charles Gibson (Gibson Glass), Joel Myers (Blenko), and Robert Moretti (Pilgrim), Bob Hamon stands as one of the greatest glassmakers in American History, largely responsible for what we know today as the “art glass movement.” Robert L. Hamon is widely regarded as one of the greatest glassblowers of the 20th Century, and perhaps the leading maker of art glass paperweights of our time. His work (especially his paperweights) is featured in art galleries and museums around the world. Robert Hamon was featured in Jean Melvin’s work, “American Glass Paperweights and Their Makers: A story of glass-paperweight craftsmen of the United States, their processes, and their products” (Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1970). Bob Hamon was at different points in time, both the youngest glassblower (when he started blowing glass at age 10, in the studio owned by his father), and the oldest glassblower (when he completed his final creations at age 77, just prior to his death) in West Virginia history.

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