The workshop at the Department of Chemistry, however, will remain intact. The department is searching extensively for a new glassblower, especially abroad, since people with Chris Kondrup’s skills are extremely rare in Denmark.

"The workshop and service environment created at the Department of Chemistry is unique among Danish universities. You need to go to foreign universities to find anything comparable," says Chris Kondrup.

This is why he is a member of the Verband Deutscher Glasbläser (VDG), where his job title is glasapparatebauer (glass apparatus maker). In Germany, approximately 70 such professionals are trained each year for universities and industry.

“There’s no equivalent training programme here. I recently attended the VDG’s three-day conference in Kassel, where I advertised the open position at Aarhus University,” Chris Kondrup explains.

He fondly calls his colleagues in the association his “glass family,” having known them for over 30 years.

“It’s a solitary job, so you have to absorb everything you can when you’re out in the world,” as he says.

In the Chemistry Department workshop, he has not been completely alone. Chris has worked closely with researchers, Ph.D. students, and other technicians at the university.

As a scientific glassblower, he hasn’t merely followed researchers’ specifications to create glass tubes, flasks, containers, etc. – he has actively participated in their development.

“Over time, I’ve learned a lot about chemistry and reactions. So, when researchers and students came to me with a problem, I helped them develop a solution, often through multiple prototypes. It was a pleasure since it sparked creativity in both me and them,” says Chris Kondrup.

“A glassblower needs to understand their material; there’s no single correct or incorrect way to do it – it’s the result that counts. I loved seeing the light in students’ eyes when I showed them how their ideas could become reality. And it was great to watch them rush back to the lab with the finished piece to continue their research,” he adds with a happy smile.

This is especially true for the double-chamber glassware Chris Kondrup developed in 2011, which he later produced in various versions for a Danish company that continues to sell it to universities and the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. Now, production is handled by a foreign factory.

The double-chambers look like two test tubes connected by glass bridges and serve as dual-chamber reactors for conducting chemical reactions with toxic components, like carbon monoxide, under safe conditions.

“The clever part is activating a toxic gas in one chamber, which diffuses into another chamber to interact with other substances. The quantities are small enough to be safe. Since 2011, we have published nearly 90 scientific articles that incorporate this double-chamber reactor,” explains Skrydstrup.

Chris Kondrup takes pride when he sees that a researcher he helped has secured a grant.

Glass was both Chris Kondrup’s profession and hobby. He became interested in creating art after taking courses in the USA and Venice around the turn of the millennium, exhibiting his work in places like the Ebeltoft Glass Museum, the Aarhus Art Building, and the Steno Museum. 

When Queen Margrethe presented the Danish Craft Award of 1879 in 2002, it was Jens Christian Kondrup who received the bronze medal.

Now, Chris Kondrup has returned to another hobby in which he also excels: cycling.

After the stroke, it’s now called paracycling – competitive cycling for people with disabilities.

“I’ve been cycling for many years. Thanks to the rehabilitation at the Hammel Neurocenter and municipal programmes, it took just five months from my hospitalization to the first time I sat on a racing bike again. I dreaded ending up in a nursing home when I was in the hospital,” he says.

This summer, Chris Kondrup placed second in the Danish Paracycling Championship.