Gay LeCleire Taylor, Bob Banford, Gordon Smith, and Kristin Qualls discuss James and Nontas Kontes, their scientific glass company, personal style, and their influence on other paperweight makers. Oral history interview with Gay Taylor by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 9, 2018, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Bob Banford by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, December 19, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Gordon Smith by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, November 26, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Kristin Qualls by Catherine Whalen and Barb Elam, conducted, July 26, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 03:17.

Time stamp: 00:00
Clip 1: Gay LeCleire Taylor talks about James and Nontas Kontes. Clip length: 01:09.

Gay LeCleire Taylor: James Kontes and Nontas Kontes—okay, they owned their own flameworking, scientific glassblowing company—and Owens-Illinois bought Kontes Brothers after World War II, Jim was in Iwo Jima, Nontas was in the Navy. But so James and Nontas are probably even the oldest ones in this shot. Though Ray Banford might have been close to them in age. And so they then had a business out in Illinois which they moved to Vineland and kept operating that business, but when they became really successful, and they were friends with Kaziun, they were friends with all these people, they didn’t start making weights till very late, till the 1970s after their company was really successful enough. They’re multimillionaires and they dressed sometimes the same and everything else, and I think Jim died at 99 and Nontas is still alive, but not well at all, and he’s well into his nineties.

Time stamp: 01:12
Clip 2: Bob Banford speaks about the Kontes Brothers. Clip length: 00:17.

Bob Banford: The Konteses [James and Nontas] I guess had just started also, but they had been involved in the, they had a glass, a scientific glass factory that they were involved with and got into the paperweights actually by meeting Charles Kaziun back in the sixties and seeing his work. 

Time stamp: 01:32
Clip 3: Bob Banford discusses the Kontes Brothers. Clip length: 00:35.

Bob Banford: The Konteses [James and Nontas] they made, they did it more or less as a hobby. They never did it to try and make a living. They did it for their own enjoyment, basically, is the reason they did it. And they were philanthropists and helped out with the donations and things for Wheaton Village to help keep the place going and just they were cheerleaders to the rest of us, more or less too, they were friendly with me and I know they were friendly with Charlie [Charles Kaziun]. And they were, they just gave a lot of encouragement. And that means a lot when you’re starting out.

Time stamp: 02:11
Clip 4: Gordon Smith discusses James and Nontas Kontes. Clip length: 00:22.

Gordon Smith: The Kontes Brothers, who I was working for—they’re kind of my mentors. Their work was so classic in the French style, but also extremely unique. It didn’t remind you of anybody else. They had a great gift for color and design. It was so unique to themselves.

Time stamp: 02:35
Clip 5: Kristin Qualls talks about Gordon Smith observing the Kontes Brothers making paperweights. Clip length: 00:41.

Barb Elam: Yeah.

Kristin Qualls: Gordon Smith tells a good story about working with the Kontes brothers [James and Nontas Kontes] and them not teaching him how to do the lampwork paperweights, but letting him watch. And then slowly but surely, when he sort of proved he was watching and picking things up and waiting to try it, then they would kind of bring him a little bit more into the fold. So it was an interesting—like again, it was around everywhere. So if you put yourself in a position where you could see it like Gordon was interested in—he had a scientific lampworking degree. He was working in scientific glassware, the Konteses were there after hours doing paperweights, and so Gordon took it upon himself to stick around and become interested. So it was there if you sought it out.