Meet Tyler

Tyler’s first love was ceramics. Always a hands-on, energetic kid, his talent was already apparent by high school. With his sights set on art education, he headed to University of Wisconsin only to find all the ceramics classes full. After trying a glassblowing class instead, it was a classic boy-meets-kiln love story. Not only was he intrinsically good at it, he was also especially fond of glass’ responsive nature as a material.

Tyler walked up and said “I’m going to work for you when I’m done with school,” the first time he met Hennepin Made’s founders Joe and Jackson. It worked. Tyler landed a summer job at Hennepin Made, a perfect follow up to his internship at the Corning Museum of Glass. The rest is history. Tyler found comradery in the band of blowers, marveled at their signature artistry and found his own voice as an artist. He also found a way to keep the lights on by blowing glass. Now leading the fulfillment department at Hennepin Made, Tyler says "everyday I come into work and I don’t know exactly what’s going to go wrong (something is always going to go wrong) and I love being able to help solve problems with people who I now consider some of my closest friends."

Tyler didn’t just make friends along the way. He also met his wife, Taylor Foreman, now a fellow glass blower at Hennepin Made. Sparks began to fly with Taylor at Emma’s, a bar popular with the university glass department. To remember how it all started Tyler took a certain object from the wall of the bar. And if you want to know what it is, you can ask Tyler.