I understand you and everyone fears on the site I'm first stating that the Starbucks dab rig was inspired by a dabuccino basically its the same piece at a muuuch lower price. As you can see from previous links provided. Now as for blowing the glass yes I originally started in my garage blowing each and every single piece ordered before I ever came on AFN even though I would browse the forum. The reason it states AFN exclusive is because the lower prices and some pieces are exclusive to AFN users. Only AFN users can access that page and order at those prices. Such as the AFN bowl it is not located any where on the site. If you go to.
http://www.mysterypipe.com you will not find the AFN page as it is completely hidden from users not coming directly from AFN that is why I provided the link
http://www.mysterypipe.com/AFN.html so afn users could access the hidden page. Now for the design I consider them my original design as I have been blowing glass going on 5 years. Now when it comes to blowing glass you honestly have very little to work with you can make a very artistic piece that looks amazing but function wise won't be that great or you can use percolators now when it comes to those you have very little to work with as you can use Honeycomb, inline, birdcage etc. To create a new one is extremely hard as glass is worked at extremely hot temperatures and hard to actually manipulate so basically those are industry standards. At this point the industry is so evolved theirs very little innovation you can actually do that's why there is brands like any other industry their pieces differ very little it is the brad name selling them and they charge outrageous prices most well known brands are $200+. Now I would like to have my brand known but as of right now I'm more interested In offering my customers a very high quality product for a low price. With happy customers the brand/company will grow organically. Now AFN is my first "advertising" in a sense as it engaged me with potential customers that need or would use my products that is why I strive to offer AFN the best deals because having someone order and them being satisfied with our product as my other customers on the original site it will only grow the business but also brand recognition. Any viable business needs to make a profit so eventually yes I will visit a factory and have them blow my pieces and theoretically be a reseller but as of right now that's not the case. My main selling point is not the designs that I offer it is the price I offer the same quality product any other brand offers at a much lower price sometimes even 70%. Not everyone can afford a $250 or even $2000 for much more expensive pieces so they can come to me and order a high quality piece for a cheap price as you see on the site all of my pieces are under $100. Now I'm going to provide links to show you basically the only thing that differs in the brands pieces are the brand name.
http://www.grasscity.com/int_en/bla...le-honeycomb-disc-perc-38cm.html#.VrP22o-cFOx you can order that at $129.99 without a discount or get virtually the same piece for $50 on my site. only difference Is their is no black leaf logo.
Now I don't have any pieces such as these but It basically proves my point.
http://www.illadelphvault.com/shop-by-style/beakers/illadelph-5mm-medium-beaker-red-label/ you can buy a regular beaker bong with illadelph logo for $380.95
Now
http://us.roor.com/product/18-beaker-base-45mm-x-5mm-2/ you can buy at your local smokeshop for $160-200 from what ive seen and the only difference is a logo. I could keep going on and on with examples the only difference is brand name.
Then the real innovation ive seen is pieces such as these
http://www.illadelphvault.com/shop-...stom-mini-coil-beaker-oil-rig-collab-8-of-10/
Very limited pieces that look amazing. They actually have a freeze coil that will give you a super cooled hit I have tried them myself from a buddie but I believe they start around $1500 the one above is 7k so as you can see there really isn't much innovation besides the freezer coil that ive found but the prices are ridiculous for something most states would take if found with resin unless in a legal state. so again my main selling point is offering a high quality product for a lower price. I hope this clears everything up for you guys sorry for the long post.