By, Gary MalICKI
I love an adventure and it has been so much fun for me to ride out of town every so often in search of a new story.
A funny thing happened to me while on my way to the Ellicottville Stained Glass Company. A missing road sign placed me in quite a quandary. While on the road to achieving my quest of finding my destination I had to call the shop’s owner, Mat Snyder, to help navigate me to his house. Finally getting there just demonstrates what a big city nerd I really am.
The simple trip was Mill Street to Martin Rd. (scene of the missing sign) then on to Rt.98. The stained glass magic happens in a garage next to his house. There are so many interesting and creative people that are part of EVL’s business/artisan community.
When Mat was a youngster his mom was the owner/operator of Art Glass of N.Y. which was her stained glass company. His fond memories and the fact that he was always around it encouraged him to follow in her footsteps.
They moved from Buffalo to Ellicottville in 1980 and the EVL Stained Glass Company was born. He started by making sun catchers and he keeps a decent collection of them in the shop.
Mat spent some time in California and came back in 1999 but has always been around the process and seems to have a romance with it. You can tell by the way he talks about his product.
An interesting thing happened during our conversations about making the appointment for the interview. In that first conversation he said he couldn’t meet on Thursday of that particular week because of an appointment he had at Roswell and revealed his continuing battle with cancer. We immediately blended into a kind of a kindred spirit as I described my current experience undergoing a clinical trial.
Mat has worked on the restoration of windows at the Holy Name of Mary Church. He also did restoration at Alpine Meadows. He spoke with a great deal of pride as he described his work on the ceiling windows at ECMC.
He said when he’s in consultation with a customer there are some who place their trust in him and allow him to be creative. He loves his collaboration with the customer as it gives him a sense of excitement. One look at his workshop and you can see that he’s immersed in several projects at once. He loves talking about the way the light and colors shine through the glass in different ways. The word he uses to describe a finished product is “elegance”.
He purchases glass in large sheets then cuts them into the pieces he needs and creates amazing designs. He proudly talked about the work he did on a drop ceiling at Balloons and also gave a shout out to his mom who worked on stained glass in the windows at Watson’s Chocolates. He did some work at EBC as well.
In his spare time he enjoys gardening and listening to music with a preference to jazz and blues. You can find him at 5724 Rt.98 in Great Valley. Feel free to call him at 716-244-1960. Check him out on Facebook as well.
Thank you, Mat. Great meeting you and thanks for sharing your story and your passion