In collaboration with 100Watt Network, I have designed some new glass pieces which will be the foundation for a new line of lighting, called Bodega. These pendants are all handblown into molds that we built in-house (see a brief video here). The geometric forms are a blend of art deco light fixtures, crossed with mod glass of the 1960s and ’70s. I’ve tried to update the ideas using the magic of CAD to develop the forms, more contemporary colors, and really excellent hardware.

100 Watt is putting the final touches on the lighting components to go with this glass. At present we’re expecting to be able to offer the lamps with either traditional incandescent, medium-base sockets or the new, super-swank LED emitters which will draw only a couple watts and will NEVER NEED A BULB CHANGE.

Please direct inquiries to 100 watt network – they will be handling all retail and wholesale lighting orders.

The post Let there be LIGHT first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

Please check out:

– our new web page on the logs
– the LA Times blog posting
– Chad DeWitt’s site and latest work

Thanks also to my good buddy Jon Taylor, who has enough taste to design not only his clients’ homes and workspaces but also his own – enough so that I decided to shoot the logs in his Oakland hills home, just up the hill. Thanks, Jon and Tom – the photos came out much better this time…

Last, thanks to my Scott Hammond for taking care of, and improving, benroth.com post-haste. It was a shambles before and during, but now it sparkles again.

UPDATE: An edited version of the blog post also ran in the LA Times print edition, Home section on August 1, 2009. Thanks David!

The post “The Scout” digs our glass logs first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

Each log is cast individually by pressing a piece of real cordwood into the sand. Using special binders we are able to get some pretty great texture of the rough wood faces, and each log has a clear flat surface where the pour was completed that is signed and numbered as part of the edition.

The logs are available directly from the studio, and through some of our most tasteful stores, such as Highcotton Living in Berkeley and Good in Boston. Check out the store locator on our website or email us directly to get yours.

The post Glass logs redux first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

clear prototype vase

One of the “new” things I’m working on is actually a design I’ve brought back from a long time ago; a simple bubble of glass that lies on its side, with a finely polished opening that allows a flower to extend from it at an angle.

I made a few of these sweet little things as gifts and even sold a couple of them, but it was before I had really begun to consider starting a line of products so they went by the wayside – until I remembered them just recently.  Here is a studio shot of one of the clear pieces, I will probably also make this vase in a transparent graphite blue and either an amber or olive green. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

The post Sideways first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

The post NYIGF Hiatus first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

new solid almond thing

It seems like some of the most interesting ideas for new product come from explorations of ideas that have no relation to commercial viability. To wit:

These almond-shaped solid glass elements, with their semi-sharp edge and hand-wrought variations, began as experiments for a possible installation in a gallery with exposed brick walls. In thinking about that texture and wanting to accentuate it, I thought it might be interesting to make some solid elements which would loosely magnify the surface behind them. So now the unfinished lenses are laying around the studio, and everyone who comes through is transfixed by them. They love the weight, love the optics, love the irregular forms – and everyone wants one. In fact, all but one of the samples I made for myself and the gallery (granted, the imperfect ones) are sold and gone.

This studio snapshot of the remaining piece is one of the larger ones we’ve made: it’s 15″ x 7.5″ x 4″, it weighs 18 lb and still wears the remains of its “sculpture punty” (that snotty bit on the back end that will eventually be ground and polished away). I am still exploring scale and thinking about price for these so I welcome your feedback.

The post New Lenses first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

I’ll be bringing the Stripe Vase in a new color – Mandarin – as a result of the color experiments we did for Sunset Magazine. And, I’ve finally decided to display the Tall Bottles as a wholesale item. Due to shipping constraints they won’t be as tall as some of the pieces that have been shown in local galleries, but at 24″ – 40″ they’re still pretty good, and I hope will do well.

I have to take just a moment to thank my amazing photographer, Chris Wahlberg. Here’s a teaser and I will post more pics of these later, promise.

arranging bottles in the studio

The post Tent City (a.k.a. the New York Gift Show) first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.