Vitreville shops Forma Vitrum Thompson DrugStore Lighted Stained Glass Building by Bill Job

Gorgeous light up stained glass drugstore building by artist Bill Job.

In September of, 1987, Bill, his wife, Kitty, and their girls moved to Xiamen, China, where they settled. Many people back in the states were collecting ceramic or porcelain miniature houses with tiny lights within—but you could shops only see the lights from the small windows or doors. His idea, which emerged in the form of Vitreville™ collectibles, was to create an entirely new product and market. He thought if he made similar houses from glass, the entire house would glow and thusly Vitreville was born. Vitreville is also known as Forma Vitra.

The glass experts all affirmed that the multi-colored scraps of glass he used were useless, but Job continued to experiment on ways to avoid waste as he was concerned about the environmental issues. He finally hit upon Job Glass®, one of the most novel glass materials to hit the industry in decades. Job Glass®, which resembles plaid or plain fabric, is made by weaving together strips of ‘spaghetti' glass and fusing them at high temperature. Job's idea of using pewter castings and glass fusing capabilities to add details, were claimed as impossible to accomplish by his competitors. Obviously he disagreed.

The Vitreville Thompsons Drug Store is made from Stained glass and pewter attachments. It was hand crafted in China in 1993. This item is signed by Bill Job, the artist, and is numbered on back, #1029. It is in very good condition and is very pretty when lit.

It measures about 8 1/4” tall, 10 1/2 “ wide and 7 3/4” deep. It weighs 4 pound and 5 ounces without packaging.