Shannon Pollard started Kennison Arts on Vancouver Island, with a goal to save recycled glass from filling up our landfills.  The business produces and sells glass jewelry and art, online and through various retail and non-profit partnerships.

Her designs are inspired by nature, especially the oceans and beauty surrounding Vancouver Island.  While the shapes of coral, jellyfish, dragonflies, bears and butterflies are beautiful to see, they were incredibly difficult for Shannon’s team to cut in stained glass manually with a ring saw.  While the ring saw let them get some simple shapes, it limited their artistic flexibility, glass usage, and their production volume.

Shannon says that using the WAZER small waterjet for glass work was able to “expand our possibilities, allow us to do things we couldn’t do otherwise, and let us up our production and efficiency.” The CNC waterjet machine is much faster than hand cutting on a saw, and enabled new levels of artistry. Shannon added that “Using the WAZER freed up time that could go into creating bigger, better pieces, which drastically changed our process- and consequently, our art style.”

“The WAZER was a game-changing purchase”

Having replaced manual cutting with automated CNC cutting using a small waterjet for glass, the business can now tell customers exactly what they are getting, and to deliver it with consistent accuracy.  Shannon says “It also let us make more, and sell more, which gives us more opportunities to sell wholesale to retailers, expanding our reach.”