Ngwenya Glass is Eswatini’s famous eco-friendly glassblowing factory, founded in 1979 as a Swedish aid project. The factory closed in 1985 due to financial difficulties. Still, it was revived just two years later when the Prettejohn family purchased the abandoned site, tracked down former employees and restarted production with a small team of just four artisans.
Today, more than 60 local craftspeople handcraft beautiful tableware and African animal figurines using 100% recycled glass. Much of the waste glass is collected from across Eswatini, with local schoolchildren often helping gather bottles through community cleanup campaigns.
The factory’s commitment to sustainability goes even further: its high-temperature glass furnace is partly powered by recycled waste oils, including used cooking oil collected from local restaurants. What began as a small revival has grown into one of Eswatini’s best-known examples of local craftsmanship combined with environmental responsibility.
