If you read my last blog, you would know that my wife and I recently became empty nesters. She wanted something to look forward to after dropping our youngest off at school, so we planned a trip to Italy. It was a long time coming. As we toured the country, I made it a point to keep an eye out for unique glass installations and applications along the way. Here are some highlights of Italian glazing that stood out to me, with accompanying images labeled accordingly at the top of this post.
Glass and glazing contractors rarely stall because they lack projects. More often, growth slows when cash is tied up in materials, payroll and stores that have not yet billed — or when a chance to buy a competitor, add a fabrication bay or field another crew arrives before the balance sheet is ready. The firms that scale cleanly treat financing as an operating tool: match the capital product to the need, prepare lenders the way you prepare a bid package and avoid structures that starve the job site of cash
A major player and major brand made news this week, and I’m certain both will be positive efforts. First, past Glass Industry MVP Ron Crowl is back at it after a short break from our world. Next, the great team from Steel Encounters announced that, after more than 40 years as Steel Encounters, they’re evolving into Encounters Construction.
Solatube International, a leading manufacturer of tubular daylighting systems, prioritizes the most efficient and sustainable use of materials at every level of its manufacturing processes. By rethinking everyday operations, even small changes in packaging, transfers, and shipments have scaled into meaningful environmental impact.
The latest From the Fabricator podcast features interviews with Tom and Kyle Nesbitt of United Architectural Metals and United Glass and Panel, along with a previously transcribed conversation with Omar Maalouf of Momentum Glass. The podcast also hit No. 1 on the Million Podcasts glass industry rankings, while industry news includes United Plate Glass celebrating 45 years, Marc Donahue returning to the Apogee Architectural Metals fold and Tom Herron joining Key Media and Research.
As façades grow more complex and glass units get larger, installation planning and specialized handling technology are becoming as critical as the engineering of the curtain wall system itself, as illustrated by a hurricane-rated curved glass project at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. The author argues that installation questions belong in preconstruction, not the field, and that the next major curtain wall innovation may be the equipment and methodology that make ambitious designs practical to build.
Bird-friendly glass remains a niche product largely limited to high-profile commercial projects, but to meaningfully reduce the more than one billion annual bird deaths from glass collisions in the U.S., it must become a mainstream option across residential and smaller-scale commercial markets. Advances such as first-surface laser etching may offer the breakthrough the industry needs, delivering bird-deterrent patterns that are subtle to people, compatible with high-performance coatings and scalable within existing manufacturing workflows.
I believe leadership in our industry starts with building trust, open communication and genuine care — measuring performance by the quality of work, not the hours spent doing it. My goal is to create a culture where people take ownership, support one another and deliver great results, even when I’m not in the room.
Recent incidents involving a school shooting in Bend, Oregon, and a mass bird strike at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Global Hub highlight the consequences of partial adoption of security and bird-friendly glazing products, reinforcing the industry’s need to push harder on education and specification. Elsewhere, Salem acquired Matodi as its fifth operating company, and the latest podcast episode featuring LuxWall and 1st Choice Glass drew strong listener feedback.