Sunday 5/28/23

May 28, 2023

On Sundays I reflect.

I had two beers this week. One was at the Vail Comedy Festival opener. The second was at lunch in Aspen. It’s better when I don’t drink, and I’m glad I didn’t have a second on either of these two occasions.

We have a lot of growth happening at Bat Country Studios. A team is shaping up. Marta has been here 3 years now. It’s hard to believe, and even harder to imagine shop life without her presence. Eric is usually up the hill around 2-3 days a week to help with backend stuff and anything else that comes our way. Red Cliff Stan has been torching every day, and when he gets back from seeing family we will begin to design and build an in-house line of Drinking Vessels together. NüBen is the studio apprentice and brings an eager attitude to learn. He reminds me of me when I was his age. We give him a hard time, which he has earned, but we’re all glad to have him around. Our newest addition Grace has been helping with the content and even got us on TikTok. She brings a fresh and young attitude to our brand and marketing, and I personally can’t wait to see the videos she will continue to create.

I’m listening to a new jam on repeat this week. “Never Lose That Feeling/Never Learn” by Swervedriver is a heavy track for 12 minutes with multiple sections. At one point an almost haunting sax echoes over a driving bass line reminding me of the music I tried to compose with my friends as a kid. I remember envisioning my life as a musician for what feels like most of my life. Realizing I’m 33 puts into perspective those 10 or so years when that is what I thought I wanted.

Glass kind of just fell into my lap 13 years ago. Maybe it was a coincidence, and maybe it wasn’t.

This weekend is the 2nd Annual Vail Comedy Festival. My partner Seth and I have been sponsoring Mark Masters and the Vail Comedy Show for years, and it feels really good to help bring another local vision to life with Seth’s help the way we got Drinking Vessels off the ground. Seeing headliners wearing my shirt on stage and tagging us online in pictures with their new cups is a humbling experience. A few years ago I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pay my bills, and now our company is sponsoring major events throughout the year.

I’m proud of us.

A few years ago, there were lots of people helping bring this vision to life, but a lot of times it felt like just me in this warehouse figuring out a way to make it all happen.

Today Drinking Vessels is a collective and a team. It’s far from just me. Seth came to the Connecticut Cup Collectors Club at Stoked and told me after he would have never believed it 7 years ago when I began telling him about what I was planning to build.

So many people believed in me and spent hours on the phone with me. They came to Minturn to help me build. They came to shows and events around the country. They vouched for me in the community. They repped our merch and our brand.

I’m so grateful to all of the people who have helped me to build what we now have; a marketplace for artists creating handmade drinkware and accessories, and a studio to host these creatives in the mountains ten minutes from Vail.

It’s rare that I go into town, or anywhere other than my studio and the house. Lately I’ve been bumping into people that met me all those years ago when I first got to the valley. They remind me where I was less than a decade ago, and the fact that we’re still here which is quite the mindfuck for all of us.

I’ve got a lot more to share here, but I’m starting to get distracted and with some big expenses and growth happening here I need to get to selling glass and running Sunday Specials.

Before I wrap up there is one more thing I do need to share. Our community lost a friend to a river accident up here last week. Nick was someone I didn’t know well. He ran the Betty Ford gardens in Vail and one time coordinated a photo shoot I did with Skinny there. I just wanted to take a moment to make mention of what a loss this has been for our community and my friends.