Industry winners

The most prestigious award program in our industry comes courtesy of Glass Magazine. The annual Glass Magazine Awards bring out the best in people, projects and products and this year did not disappoint.

However, I wanted to point out one winner that pretty much could get an award with every project they do: W&W Glass has been on absolute heater in the past few years, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. It was fantastic to see them get recognition through the award process, and as I noted when I saw Jeff Haber present in Texas earlier this year, there was just a stunning amount of sophistication and precision happening.

The big key with all of these awards is that they show what glass and glazing can do. Too many times, others limit us. Architects and developers are told that glass and glazing can’t achieve performance or aesthetics when, indeed, we often can.

Kudos to everyone who won, and I look forward to seeing the winners when they are formally recognized at GlassBuild next month!

Elsewhere…

ABI Posts Slow But Positive Growth for Northeast

The Architectural Billings Index continues to struggle along though it finally broke the up/down/up/down cadence by the overall number being flat compared to last month. However, the interesting note has been the slow and steady positive ratings coming from the northeast. Outside of New York City, things have been softer than people prefer or have been used to in that region, so seeing some positive trends, there is something to take away and behold. I'm curious now if the market blips we’ve had lately will affect the rating to be released on the 21st, or will it leak into September?

Critical conversation on mental health

The next Thirsty Thursday is this week, and it is a huge honor for me to be involved with it. I will be a part of this webinar that features Cal Beyer and Kevin Hines to talk about suicide awareness and prevention.

NGA is doing this as a part of the direction of September, which will be Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, as well as Construction Suicide Prevention Awareness Week, which will be held September 9-13, 2024. In recognition of promoting the importance of workplace mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention, Cal and Kevin will be engaging in conversation about how glass and fenestration industry leaders can help protect their workplaces, families, and friends from these risks and share strategies that promote recovery. Register now for free, and join us this Thursday, Aug. 15, at 1 p.m. ET.

Kelly Springer Joins DFI

Nice to see industry veteran Kelly Springer land at DFI-Diamon-Fusion International. Kelly did tremendous work at Fenetech/Cyncly over the years and has always been a super solid industry person, so this is a good fit for her. Congrats! Plus, she now gets to work with the industry front man Carl Christ* making beautiful music and coatings right?

*Carl is actually a true legit actual Rock Star from his past leading the epic group The Medflys. But I have dedicated the Rock Star nickname to Melanie Dettmer, so Industry Front Man is the call here.

Eastman launches new website

Big props to the team at Eastman/Saflex/Vanceva (not sure what to overall call them) for the launch of a really strong new website. Easy to navigate with tons of resources that I will be surely digging into more as time goes on. As most of you know, building and launching a website is a heck of a lift, so congrats on getting this one done!

Thoughts and prayers for David Shaw

Last this week: prayers needed. One of the best people in our industry, David Shaw, had a stroke a bit ago (I just found out) and is on a long road to recovery. David is one of the most engaging and friendly people I know and has been a glass lifer. He’s always been a guy I (and countless others) could count on any time you’d reach out, so now I’m trying to return the favor. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. And my hope is that we’ll see him at his usual perch at the next TEXpo, holding court with everyone who stops by. Thank you.

Read on for links of the week….