Product Placement
Solos Glass
If a wall clock by Solos Glass
strikes you as oddly familiar,
that's because in a past life it
may have been your grandma’s
ashtray. “Someone will say,
‘Oh, my mom had one of those
when I was a kid,’” says Nanda
Soderberg, co-owner with his
wife, Rebecca Saunders, of the
Richmond, Virginia-based stu-
dio. These unique pieces are
made from vintage prcssed-
glass wares that the two hunt
down at thrift shops and online,
then heat and spin out flat. The
process turns candy dishes and
punch bowls into witty objects
in a delightful variety of shapes,
textures and colors—lime, co-
balt, amber, pink, ruby. “It’s
pretty cool, how it transforms
them,” says Soderberg, adding
that customers appreciate their
function. “People like to have
a use for things.”
Soderberg, 37, began blow-
ingglass as a student at the Uni-
versity of Hawaii and honed
his skills at hot shops in Seattle
and Southern California before
earning his
M .F .A .
at Virginia
Commonwealth University,
where lately he’s beeifan ad-
junct instructor iifglass.
Saunders, 33, studied glass at
the Rhode Island School of De-
sign and sculpture at the San
Francisco Art Institute, and
teaches art in local public
schools. Married by an Elvis
impersonator two years ago at
the Graceland Wedding Chapel
in Las Vegas, the couple blend
retro charm with a sophisticated
design sensibility in their home
decor items, which have been
featured at venues ranging from
Barneys New York to the
“Searchlight” talent showcase
at the American Craft Council
Show in Baltimore; this fall,
they’ll be at the Craft + Design
Show at the Visual Arts Center
of Richmond (November 21-
22). Including elegant blown
vessels, such as Double Bubble
Set© and whimsical small
sculptures, such as Purple Cane
and Murrine Set©, as well as
the clocks, their line is diverse,
yet all Solos products share
a distinctive modern aesthetic.
A kitschy ceramic bust of
a turbaned man inspired the
couple’s recent series of mold-
blown Head Vases©. Now
they’re eyeing other unlikely
objects as molds—a hunk of gut-
ter pipe, the cowboy boot of a
neighbor’s kid. “It’s opened us
up to being more playful.”—
j . l .
solosglass.com
012 american craft oct/novo9
CA / San F rancisco
San Francisco International
Airport
San Francisco Art Commission
Collection
ongoing
sfartscommission.org/pubart
The art of craft is abundant
among the 75 permanently sited
objects throughout the airport’s
lobbies and terminals.
CT / New Haven
Creative Arts Workshop
Celebration o f American Crafts
Oct. 30-Dec. 24
creativeartsworkshop.org
This annual juried show and
sale—just in time for the holi-
days—offers some of the finest
3-D work by over 300 artists.
DE / Wilmington
Delaware Center for the
Contemporary Arts
Hratch Habikian: Origins, Visited
to Oct. 18
thedcca.org
Motivated by the coastal setting
of his youth, the Lebanese-born
artist creates exotic jewelry and
sculpture combining gold, sil-
ver, stones and wood.
DC /Washington
© Renwick Gallery
Staged Stories: Renwick Craft
Invitational 2009
to Jan. 3
americanart.si.edu/renwick
A biennial exhibition series,
this year’s show features works
by ceramists Christyl Boger and
SunKoo Yuh, fiber artist Mark
Newport and glass artist Mary
Van Cline, including her
Cycles
o f Relationship o f Time.
www.freedowns.net & www.journal-plaiza.net
Solus Glass photos/Rebecca Saunders Soderberg, Van Cline photo/Rob Vinnedge.
