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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
The crafting industry in the United States is big business with around $30 billion in annual revenues. Around 62.5 million people participate in crafting every year. Lesa Gilgen (gill-genn) is now contributing to this growing industry with her business, Glassed Up in Morgan.
What she does at Glassed Up is take glass bottles she collects and transform them into home decor like planters, candle holders, canisters and anything else her customers might be interested in. Lesa is an innovator, so she's always coming up with new ideas and trying something new. For example, one of her newest products is turning a bottle into a product that can provide aromatherapy for a room.
Lesa refers to her work as upcycling, or taking anything discarded and transforming it into something with more value than the original item. This makes her business green and connects with her customers. She's also keeping hundreds of glass bottles out of the landfill through her work at Glassed Up.
The idea for the business came because Lesa always has some type of project, usually something creative and adventurous that involves working with her hands. After a friend suggested making glasses out of recycled glass bottles, she learned glassmaking. It was a challenge she enjoyed, especially when it became a way to take something being thrown away and turn it into something useful. Glassed Up grew and developed from there.
Lesa has a network of restaurants, bars, friends and family who donate their bottles so she constantly has new materials to upcycle at Glassed Up. Other customers come to her specifically to get help with ordinary bottles, and leave with something beautiful for their home or office.
One of Lesa's major inspirations for Glassed Up is her grandma, who came from the depression era and was skilled at making something out of nothing. This business idea would be right up grandma's alley.
As a community-focused organization, Zions Bank has been providing value to the communities in which we live and serve for over 140 years. Member FDIC.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Glassed Up 133 N. Commercial St. Morgan, UT 84050 801-821-0999; www.glassedup.com
