Anytime customers have walked into Sweet Tooth Glassworks, they can remember being greeted by an immediate atmosphere of comfort. Lush, green plants lined the windows, and an array of glass products glinted and glimmered behind the counter.
They might have met Tucker and Hazel, two golden-haired dogs that love to peek through the short gate dividing the back office from the storefront. They might have bought glassware from Jonathan Killman, an artist who has worked out of Sweet Tooth’s studio space for the last eight years, or they might have been drawn to the store by social media content made by Mia Madsen.
For over a decade, Sweet Tooth Glassworks in Eugene has built a different kind of legacy. In an age where it’s possible to have anything and everything delivered to your doorstep with the click of a button and in a few short days, Kathie Chapman, the force behind Sweet Tooth Glassworks, does not underestimate the effort and willpower it takes to operate a small business and support creative minds.
Sweet Tooth began in Cottage Grove, Oregon, when Chapman’s partner, Chris Baker, learned glassblowing from an old acquaintance and continued practicing his art in their garage. It wasn’t long before their business started to grow. They moved from the garage to a horse barn converted to a studio, and eventually found their home on W 11th in Eugene. At the end of April 2026, Sweet Tooth Glassworks will close its doors for the last time.
While this closure marks the end of an era for Sweet Tooth Glassworks, it is not an end to the connections that Chapman has forged amongst the glass-blowing community in Eugene.
“I guess I’m going into it just trying to be proud of myself and the community that I built and the connections that I made and the people that I connected together just from being in this building,” Chapman said. “You know, it’s very much a family and a community I’ve always wanted to support.”
In 2015, Sweet Tooth Glassworks paused their production line and opened their studio space to independent glass artists for rent. Since Baker’s passing in 2021, Chapman has found other means of bringing artists and customers to her doors.
“That was a hard pivot, and then I started meeting other glass blowers and buying from them; we started renting spots,” Chapman said. “[It] just kind of evolved into something different.”
Chapman admitted she wasn’t particularly interested in the glass industry, but persisted anyway, inspired by the talent that surrounded her. “And this industry is kind of notoriously, um, not business-minded,” she said. Chapman has worked to bridge the gap between creativity and running a successful business.
When public gatherings started up again after the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweet Tooth Glassworks hosted outdoor vendor markets on Sundays. “It just became a place for people to commune, to sell stuff,” Chapman said.
The first market, hosted in April 2021, was a success according to Chapman. The years that followed proved more difficult. “I feel like we just always couldn’t get that traction back after that,” she said. “Money stopped, and student loans were due again… people were like, ‘Well, I bought all this glass during Covid, so I don’t need to buy any glass now. I’ll just save my money.’”
Chapman has also found that there’s a misunderstanding between customers and industry professionals. Many walk through Sweet Tooth’s doors seeking a repair and expecting to pick it up the next day. “When I run out of something, I can’t immediately buy it, you know… I’m not Walmart,” she said. “I’m just like one person, and that part is always hard to explain to customers, too.”
Even though Sweet Tooth Glassworks is closing its doors, they plan on making the most of this time and have no plans of abandoning the community they have forged beneath their roof. Chapman is considering attending community events in the future and will continue to support those in the glassblowing community. “I’m just so appreciative that people have frequented here enough to keep me in business for all this time,” she said.
