Glass-blower
Also called glassblower, glass blower, glass designer
Glass-blowers design, produce and decorate glass artefacts such as stained glass windows, mirrors and architectural glass. Some glass-blowers specialise in restoring, renovating and repairing original pieces. They may also work as scientific glass-blowers, designing and repairing laboratory glass.
What you'd do
Glass makers, cutters, grinders and finishers · ILO- Heating glass to pliable stage using gas flames or ovens, and rotating glass to heat it uniformly
- Blowing and bending glass tubing into specified shapes to form scientific apparatus such as flasks, retorts and pipettes
- Grinding and polishing glass objects or parts to correct defects or to prepare surfaces for further finishing and smoothing and polishing rough edges, using belt sander or polishing wheels
- Examining glass stock and finished products and marking or discarding items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes
- Reading work orders to determine dimensions, cutting locations and quantities to cut
- Observing gauges, computer printouts and video monitors to verify specified processing conditions and make adjustments as necessary
- Positioning pattern or drawing on glass, measuring dimensions, and marking cutting lines, using glass cutting tools and cutting glass along marked outlines or around pattern
- Setting up, operating and adjusting computerized or robotic glass cutting equipment
- Inspecting, weighing and measuring products to verify conformance to specifications, using instruments such as micrometers, callipers, magnifiers and rulers
- Regulating oven temperatures according to glass types to be processed
- Transferring pattern for individual stained glass parts from full size drawing to pattern paper, using stylus to trace drawings
- Spraying silver solution on glass to provide mirrored surface, using spray gun
- Laying out cutting and grinding optical and other glass to specified dimensions and weight for moulding into lens blanks and for use as watch crystals
- Indoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Some contact with people
- Good freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines now and then
- Some repetitive tasks
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,100 a month (Bulgaria) to €4,900 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among craft and related trades workers in the EU, women earn 26% less per hour than men. Craft and related trades workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.19 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 13 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for glass makers, cutters, grinders and finishers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).