#10: What is a glassblower doing at OVGU?

You might be surprised to hear that we have a glassblower at OVGU! In the latest edition of our internal podcast, “Listening to the University”, Dominik Roth, our in-house glassblower, who - attention! Spoiler! - actually isn’t a real glassblower, talks about whether he spends all day making baubles for Christmas trees, why he ended up leaving his Bavarian idyll for the flat Börde region and why he had to put on a hat for the first time when he came to Magdeburg.

Our guest today

Today we welcome Dominik Roth, our university's own glassblower. To be more precise, he is a glass apparatus maker. Among other things, he makes flasks and coolers in the university’s workshop.

 

*the audio file is only available in German

 

The Podcast to Read

Intro voiceover: In die Uni reingehört. Der Podcast zur Arbeitswelt an der OVGU.

 

Dirk Alstein: That’s exactly it. And with that, a very warm welcome to a new edition of this podcast, in which we look to introduce not only individual areas of operations, but also the people behind them, so that we can get to know one another a little better at the university. And today our title is “What is a glassblower doing at OVGU?” Well, I don’t know about you, but when I heard this for the first time, I asked myself how did anyone manage to tempt a young man from his idyllic mountain chalet in Vogtland here to Magdeburg to the cellar of Building 16, where he... um, what exactly is it that he does? Making Christmas decorations for the university? Or glass chalices for the professors’ table? All this and more will be cleared up by this episode and for that our glassblower himself - Mr Roth - is our guest. Welcome!


Dominik Roth: Hello!


Dirk Alstein: Mr Roth, before we unravel bit by bit all of what I just said, perhaps we could begin with one thing - and they always go down well in our program - a really shocking fact - Attention! Hitchcockian sound effect! - you aren't actually a glassblower at all! Right?


Dominik Roth: Right! Well, yes and no.


Dirk Alstein: Ha! Gotcha!


Dominik Roth: Exactly, it has to be said. I am a glass apparatus maker, which is a glassblower, but one who specializes in glass apparatus making. The job of glassblower is divided into many different areas, including, for example, artistic glassblowing...


Dirk Alstein: ...the one with the Christmas baubles?


Dominik Roth: Right, that’s the one with the Christmas baubles and animal figures and such like. Exactly, and I specialize in making vessels or coolers, flasks for the laboratories in Building 16 and also for the rest of the uni. For everyone who needs something.


Dirk Alstein: So not a glassblower, but a - and I need to read it out - a glass apparatus maker.


Dominik Roth: Right.


Dirk Alstein: OK. Unfortunately there are no Christmas baubles, we can say that right away... so hot on the heels of the shocking fact comes a disappointing one... Mr Roth doesn’t make Christmas baubles. But how does the work of a glass apparatus maker differ from that of a glassblower? Or what do you actually make?


Dominik Roth: Exactly. So we have these artistic figures, Christmas tree decorations and so on. These include the traditional things, for example, that everyone is familiar with from the Christmas market. But in my workshop I predominantly make flasks, coolers, Schlenk flasks and the like.


Dirk Alstein: So things that people need for doing science, for research?


Dominik Roth: Yes. I make a great deal for research and science, and it also differs in that, for example, in the training, a different kind of knowledge is conveyed. A different approach to things. Since, for example, a glassblower, let us say, an ordinary glassblower, stands a good chance of being able to make glass apparatus, but will find it very difficult, because they simply have not learned the technical methodology. Of course, it is possible to take further training courses. It would be just the same for me if, let us say, I suddenly had to start producing a range of Christmas baubles. But I could manage to make the occasional decoration right now.


Dirk Alstein: Hah!


Dominik Roth: [Laughs]


Dirk Alstein: So the professors’ table is safe after all! OK. But predominantly, if I have understood correctly, everything that is needed in the laboratory, for example, test tubes, flasks and so on. OK and of course that explains why you are based in the Institute of Chemistry. But would it not be simpler to buy the test tubes that you make from Chemistry wholesalers?


Dominik Roth: When it comes to the test tubes, yes, absolutely. It is not economical for the Institute for me to make them. So I make them in small batches if, for example, it will save somebody time if I do so. By and large it is worthwhile in the case of new acquisitions and repairs, first and foremost. You have to imagine, if someone has a Schlenk flask, which costs 75 euros new, for example, and the stopcock breaks off, then I can more or less replace this part, and that then... it will cost 12 euros for the new stopcock. And as a result there is no need to buy a whole new flask. And then there is the working time, which would have to be added to the calculation. And this makes it a great deal cheaper.


Dirk Alstein: And test tubes are actually what one would generally describe as “penny goods”?


Dominik Roth: Right.


Dirk Alstein: And so there it is only the time saving that is an advantage?


Dominik Roth: Yes.


Dirk Alstein: OK. What is a Schlenk flask?


Dominik Roth: A Schlenk flask? I can’t tell you exactly...


Dirk Alstein: ...so, a flask, I see...


Dominik Roth: Exactly, and on the side it has a stopcock attached, which is used to fill the flask with gases or to ventilate it. I can't tell you exactly what it is for...


Both: [laugh]


Dirk Alstein: ...you don’t know exactly what they get up to with it.


Dominik Roth: Right.


Dirk Alstein: So it is always just: can you make one, make one please, Mr Roth, but you don’t know what they do with it. OK.


Dominik Roth: Not with everything.


Dirk Alstein: So what are the things that you have to repair or make most often?


Dominik Roth: Stopcocks that have been broken off Schlenk flasks right at the top, Schlenk tubes.

[laughs]

That is really what I have to do most often. And very often there are tiny hairline cracks in the glass that happen when it is heated up or cooled down very quickly. And causes slight areas of damage to the surface and they can be removed by reheating the glass and then the equipment can be used again. So that is the regular work.


Dirk Alstein: But they are - I actually visited you beforehand in your workshop - they are relatively simple repairs. The sort of thing that isn’t difficult for you to do. So what are the real challenges? There are also - I have heard things mentioned such as reactors and so on.


Dominik Roth: Right! So things like that only come along occasionally, but we do get them sometimes. Which makes things very interesting for me, because with reactors, for example, we are talking about a very expensive piece of equipment.


Dirk Alstein: Can you give us an idea of how much? What does a reactor like that cost? [laughs]


Dominik Roth: So once I had my hands on a reactor that had cost 60,000 euros.


Dirk Alstein: OK. That would give you sweaty palms, right?


Dominik Roth: Yes! Above all, there were two of us on that job, and who knows... that could have been the boss’s car that is parked outside that we had in our hands! So you keep a really tight hold of it. Of course it is rare for us to have such big things here. So, let’s say, there are reactors ranging from half a liter or even smaller up to probably 100, 200 liters. This year I had a small reactor in the workshop that cost 2,850 euros new, and a 15-euro part had broken off it. That always entails a certain amount of risk, of course. But then we have the advantage that it is broken and not working anymore anyway, otherwise people wouldn’t come to us.


Both: [laugh]


Dominik Roth: So in a way it cannot get any more broken. So we do the best that we can. Of course we are ambitious and wherever possible want to sort the problem out. And if something like that works out, then it makes us proud. Things like that tend to be the exception though, but they do happen occasionally.


Dirk Alstein: Do you work alone?


Dominik Roth: Yes.


Dirk Alstein: In other words, you can’t hand a problem on to a colleague...


Both: [laugh]


Dirk Alstein: OK, perhaps we could move on to clearing up the second part of my convoluted speech from the beginning and my idea of a glass blower again. I mentioned an idyllic mountain chalet in the Vogtland region. Of course that is rubbish, you can more or less hear it from your accent, you come from a completely different place?


Dominik Roth: Yes! I come from Lower Franconia. At least that is where I grew up. In Faulbach am Main. Which is near Wertheim. And for anyone who still hasn’t heard of that, it is quite close to Würzburg.


Dirk Alstein: OK, now I know.


Dominik Roth: Now you know.


Both: [laugh]


Dominik Roth: And that is still one of the last strongholds of glassmaking alongside Lauscha, Hadamar, where there is still a school of glassmaking, and in the Bavarian Forest.


Dirk Alstein: How long does it last?


Dominik Roth: The training?


Dirk Alstein: Yes.


Dominik Roth: The training lasts three years. For me it was under the dual training system. With teaching blocks... I’m just saying, in case anyone is listening...


Dirk Alstein: We are familiar with that here in the media center. Yes, exactly. That is what our apprentices do too.


Dominik Roth: I finished my training there. In my training company. Then I worked in industry. Then I worked at the university in Erlangen for a little while, then went back to industry, and then I qualified as a master glassblower.


Dirk Alstein: That sounds as if someone had drawn a straight line on a sheet of paper. But it wasn’t exactly like that in reality. But there were actually a couple of breaks in your career. Breaks, sounds dramatic, which it isn’t. But nevertheless in between times there were a couple of setbacks, in any case. I remember, you told me, the boss of your training workplace suggested to you that you become a janitor instead. And found myself wondering, what is actually more important, talent or staying power?


Dominik Roth: Definitely. Actually none of it was strictly planned. Rather, it happened by chance. Originally my plan was actually to join the police or the army. Experience action and adventure, but then I had a serious sporting injury - here we are, back on the subject of breaks - anyway, I damaged my ankle, and I can remember it as if it were yesterday. My headmaster was like: yes, we have to encourage young people to learn trades and get them into companies so that they learn something, he was really all for this, and I had perhaps only been out of hospital for three or four days, still had a really swollen foot - it had just been operated on. And the headmaster asked if perhaps I would like to go with him to look at this company, the glassblowing company. And I was, of course, like: Nah! Not at all! It was midsummer, it was 40º, I didn’t want to do anything but rest my foot. But my father more or less said that I wanted to go along, even though I didn’t want to. With hindsight I have to say...


Dirk Alstein: Thanks Dad!


Dominik Roth: Yes, something like that. Thanks Dad!


Dirk Alstein: Because it clicked straight away?


Dominik Roth: No, actually it didn’t. So, I have to say that I went to look round this company and the first thing I thought was: Oh God! It is even hotter than outside! The first time it grabbed me, really, was when I had the chance to sit down by myself and just heat the glass up, more or less hold this liquid glass in my hands. That was the kind of moment that grabs you. You don’t think about it, you are perhaps aware of drinking glasses that you hold in your hand, and perhaps the occasional shard of glass when you break something, but this liquid glass, something just clicked for me, and it was right then where I said: OK, I’d like to do this! I’d like to give it a try. So I started the first year of my apprenticeship, but it didn’t go very well to begin with. They...


Dirk Alstein: Yes? What didn’t go so well?


Dominik Roth: The successes that we hoped for, that we would have liked to see, didn’t happen to begin with. I noticed it myself too, to a certain extent, that I was finding it very difficult. There is also a lot of learning by doing and self-discipline, training oneself, let me put it that way. Because nobody can just give you the feel that you need for the job. Or the ability to see the things that you need to be able to see, that you have to see and understand for yourself. And for me in the beginning that was just not there, as you already said, they even asked me if perhaps I wanted to stop. So I thought about it and actually I thought to myself: I don't know what else I could do that I would enjoy as much and...


Dirk Alstein: But doesn’t that make one... you are, after all... So I imagine, you are doing your apprenticeship, you are in any case perhaps at a stage where you are frustrated, because things are not going as planned and then the boss comes to you - incidentally, hi! That was crappy! Then the boss comes to you and says something like that.


Dominik Roth: Right! For me, at that time, it was, I don't want to say a motivation, but I did think to myself, ‘so, if it is this bad anyway, then I can manage to keep going to the end and if it is not enough...’ Well they had said to me, they would get me through the final exam... so I figured that I would be able to see how things were then. But at that moment, for the time being, it was, as I said, the thing that I wanted to do.


Dirk Alstein: When did the pieces start to fall into place?


Dominik Roth: I would say after around a year and a half. Perhaps at the end of the second year of my apprenticeship too, where it just clicked. The moment when it clicked - I can't describe it any other way... and all of a sudden it got better and it went well and things that I had failed at before, suddenly started working and I understood what I was doing and at the time I saw it with a colleague, it just took him a little bit longer still for the moment when it all clicked to happen, and today he too is a tip-top excellent glassblower. He still works at the company and is indispensable. They cannot do without him.


Dirk Alstein: So in fact above all you need stamina and trust that the moment when everything clicks will eventually come. So you did it, proved the boss wrong, completed your training, worked in the industry, did your master qualifications and then quite quickly ended up in Magdeburg. How did that happen?


Dominik Roth: That was also by chance, so to speak. After I completed my master qualifications, I started casually looking for a job again, just because the master’s training had been full on for seven months, spending every public holiday and almost every Saturday at college, working hard, and my batteries were just flat. And I said to myself: ‘OK, so I’m just going to start looking, nice and relaxed and casually, for a new job’ and then in the process I stumbled across Siemens, applied for the job, was invited to interview, but that wasn’t the end of it. Because the distances were too big, they had a production shop for glassblowing more or less as an idea in their heads but to that point it had only been an idea and they were looking for people because we are quite a rarity. And so I more or less fell back on my backup application to Magdeburg, and they said straight away that they would like me to join them.


Dirk Alstein: So now you came from Bavaria to Saxony-Anhalt. So of course there is the question of a culture shock, but we should add that... I’ve noticed that the people in this city often like to have a moan about their hometown. What effect does that have on somebody who comes from Bavaria, in other words from somewhere quite different, and suddenly finds themselves in this city? Is it really bad?


Dominik Roth: No actually not at all. So during my interview I was briefly shown around the university by somebody who is now my colleague and I asked him at the time: ‘Tell me, what is Magdeburg really like? What can I expect?’ And he said to me: ‘Well, it is a small, very quiet town, and the people are brutally unfriendly.’ And I heard that and thought to myself: ‘Actually I can’t imagine that it is like that.’ And I have to say, that was right. It wasn’t unfriendly at all, instead the people seemed to me to be very friendly, quite open and honestly I haven’t had any bad experiences here yet. Apart from the fact that it is always windy. It always feels windy here.


Dirk Alstein: And it doesn’t feel windy in Bavaria?


Dominik Roth: It doesn’t feel that way. So here it feels as if it has come directly from the sea over all the flat fields. At home there are lots of mountains and valleys; from time to time it is windy too, but a lot of it is diverted, I think, by the mountains. But here it is really...


Dirk Alstein: OK, that is not something that I would even have thought about.


Dominik Roth: Since I have been here I have got myself a hat. I never had one before.


Dirk Alstein: Yes, but it is nice to hear that somebody comes from Bavaria and tells us that perhaps we are actually not as unfriendly as we like to think we are! Anyway, now we have come to the end of our chat. There is just our final part, known as “Long story short”. So now it’s getting serious. No, not really, it’s easy. I’m going to give you three incomplete sentences that I would like you to finish off. Ready?


Dominik Roth: OK, I’m ready!


Dirk Alstein: First: the biggest misconception about my work is that...


Dominik Roth: ...that I just make Christmas decorations.


Dirk Alstein: Yes, I still don’t believe it! But we have already established that. Good. Second question: as a Bavarian, what I miss most in Magdeburg is...


Dominik Roth: ...my LKW, which stands for Leberkäsweck, which is actually a meatloaf sandwich [in German “LKW” is usually the abbreviation for a truck or HGV]


Dirk Alstein: I actually don’t think we can help you there. Meatloaf is...


Dominik Roth: I really do miss it.


Dirk Alstein: I believe you. Third and last question: when I see nice Christmas decorations, I think...


Dominik Roth: ...I could probably make them.


Dirk Alstein: I would say so too. OK. Thank you very much, Mr Roth, for your visit. Thank you to all of you out there for listening. So that’s it. All that’s left to say is that if you have any feedback about this edition, or in general about our podcasts, be it positive or negative, you’re welcome to pass it on to us by email to or use another channel to contact us. It’s important for me to say again, your messages will, of course, be treated in confidence, so don't worry about treading on anyone’s toes. The next edition of this podcast will be next year, and so we’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Take care and take it easy! Bye, until the next time!


Dominik Roth: Bye!

 

Intro voiceover: In die Uni reingehört. Der Podcast zur Arbeitswelt an der OVGU.

Last Modification: 29.07.2021 - Contact Person: Webmaster