MADE IN KENYA: Kitengela Hot Glass making eye-catching products through glass blowing

Kitengela Hot Glass has contracted collectors who pick the glass waste from different parts of the country. When the waste gets to the factory, the process of turning it into different products starts with sorting, washing and heating. 

According to General Manager Thomas Kapere, they receive scrap glass, clean it then warm it for about 30 minutes. They then take it into a furnace or kiln overnight at a temperature of 1180 degrees.

"Our intermittent operational system makes us very unique. So it goes into various departments, from these departments we use other materials to marry it with the glass and make other products," Kapere said.

Kitengela Hot Glass makes a wide range of products from recycled glass. From bottles to vases, goblets, pitchers and even furniture, this venture has specialised in almost everything glass, earning a reputation for some of the most artistic glass products in Kenya and beyond.

Kitengela Hot Glass has literally become a tourist destination for both domestic and foreign tourists, as they have built a glass museum of all sorts of products. Kapere says they are stopping at nothing to tell the glass story to the world. 

"Anyone who likes beautiful glass is our target. We ship our glass all over the world, with people buying from the US, UK. We have an online shop and we also have a big local market. We have people coming out of the country and they want to visit Kitengela Glass," Kapere added.