From a very young age Charles has known of glass as an artistic medium, ever since his parents (E&M Glass) opened the studio he grew up in, back in 1987. Even with this familiarity with hot glass it wasn't until he went to Sunderland University that he began to experiment and really explore it's properties. Originally studying Fine Art it later seemed inevitable that he would transfer to the BA Glass and Ceramics course, from which he graduated from with honours in 2010 and was awarded the Charles Bray award for Glass Excellence