A tradition of glassblowing welds father and son
The craft of repairing and customizing lab equipment passes from one generation to the next at Brock.
At Brock University, the unique and highly skilled trade of scientific glassblowing recently changed hands from father to son. Jordan VanDenhoff spends his days building custom glassware for researchers and repairing damaged lab equipment like flasks and test tubes. Working as part of technical services in the faculty of mathematics and science, he often has visitors dropping in to his glassblowing shop, either to make a request or just to say hi.
“When a student or professor is trying to build something, talking to someone on the phone and corresponding through email is just not the same as coming down here and being able to explain in person,” he says. “We come up with a product that works for them.”
Mr. VanDenhoff started training for the role, whether he knew it or not, when he was just seven years old – “horsing around with dad” is how he puts it. Dad just happened to be the scientific glassblower at Brock at the time. When John VanDenhoff retired in 2006 after 40 years of service, Jordan took his place at the workbench. Scientific glassblowing runs even deeper in the family. Jordan’s uncle also practised the craft and his cousin went on to become the scientific glassblower for the National Research Council.
Having a scientific glassblower on hand isn’t unheard of in a university. The University of Saskatchewan claims to employ the only scientific glassblower in the province. McMaster and Memorial universities, and the universities of British Columbia, New Brunswick and
Lethbridge are among other institutions that have a glassblower on staff.
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