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.

The post Sucess in the sand first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

We still want to support our retailer galleries, so we also put the list of stores more prominently on the contact page – no more pop-up window. And all stores with sites are now directly linked from that page.

Speaking of which, the JBG website has undergone some significant overall improvements, thanks to Scott Hammond Studio. I have always liked the original design but as monitors have gotten larger, it began to look a little small. And as we added more items to the site, the navigation was also becoming cluttered overloaded.

Scott did a great job of refreshing the existing look and cleaning it up; please take a look when you have a chance.

The post Did you find everything today? 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.

Since that time, we have worked on a number of pieces – both blown and kiln-formed – which continue her conversations among objects and processes, repetition of forms and modular multiples, photographs and their subjects, rendered again as objects. Far from being a glass artist, Gay is equally facile in executing works using complex industrial processes as well as homespun crafty-crafts. I’m pleased to have had the continuing experience of helping her to realize her ideas, and this is exactly the kind of client and relationship I think sets my studio apart from so many other production-only studios.

Gay is mounting a solo show at Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco for the month of February. The opening reception is Thursday, Feb 5 from 5:30 – 7:30. Here is a bit of background lifted from the show’s press release:

For over twenty years Gay Outlaw has used the camera to examine the representation of three-dimensional objects in the 2-D photograph. Over time her studio practice grew to feature 3-D artworks using unconventional materials such as prepared food. Working with pattern, repetition and manipulating the illusion of sculptural space, she draws our attention to depth, shadow, weight and proportion. Gay’s work plays actual depth against the illusion of depth, and subverts expectations given to familiar shapes and materials. Combining glass, wood, bronze, cloth, papier-maché and cardboard, her new works are richly playful adventures.

Gay has shown her work nationally, including exhibitions at the Sculpture Center in New York, the University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach, the Berkeley Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her works are in the collections of the SFMOMA, Berkeley Art Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the di Rosa Preserve in Napa.

See more of Gay’s work at her website.

The post Gay Outlaw first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.

bottle photo by Chris Wahlberg

I like to think that we can do everything we need in-house: equipment fabrication, marketing, package design, party planning. But it’s important to let some things go so you can focus on the important stuff – most importantly, glass-making. All that other stuff takes time, and while in some ways it saves money and it definitely preserves control, there is nothing better that finding someone else who does it better, faster n’ cheaper than you could do it yourself. Oakland-based Chris Wahlberg has been just such a find, so I am pleased to give him a little plug here; many of the great images you see of our studio objects have been photographed by him.

From the beginning, I had a strong idea of how I wanted the work shot but only limited ability to do so. I sat down with Chris and explained myself, then put some of the vases in his hands and let him go at it. I can’t tell you how gratifying the results were, and how pleased I have been since with his eye, his skill and his attention to detail. Having good images at the ready is useful and valuable on so many levels, and Chris’s images and services are a bargain at any price.

Enough fawning – if you’re interested in contacting Chris, please find him on the web at chriswahlberg.com. He has extensive experience in all sorts of commercial photography, and is talented in many other areas I have not yet explored.

The post Pretty Pictures first appeared on StudioBlog :: Jeff Benroth Glass.