Glass Maker Blowin’ Away
It’s the old question for crafters--form or function? Caleb Siemon doesn’t hesitate when you put it to him.
Siemon, who at 24 recently opened United Glass studio in an industrial area of Costa Mesa, believes his glass-blown objects first have to be practical. A vase or bowl can be beautiful and arty, but if it’s too delicate or unapproachable to hold a bunch of flowers or fruit, he’s not doing his job.
“Most of my pieces are meant to work as furniture and fit in people’s homes,” he explained. “I would never be offended if people wanted to use them every day; it’s important to me that they do.
“Function defines the form [and] I really think of myself as more of a designer than an artist.”
That may be how he sees himself, but Siemon’s glass has been described as purely aesthetic by some who have ventured to his workshop or seen them in home furnishings shops. His glass--which sells for anywhere from $80 for a small vase to $1,200 for one that’s 30 pounds and 20 inches tall--tends to be somewhat abstract, with a free-flowing quality that has become his trademark.
“One of the things that I love [about glass-blowing] is the spontaneous quality of the process that shows up in the pieces,” Siemon said. “It’s a liquid form that evolves during the making. . . . I like that impulsiveness to show up in my work.”
Weight and bulk are other things that set them apart. He noted that most people are more accustomed to fragile blown glass while his pieces are “thick, heavy and sturdy.”
“That seems to grab everybody’s eye,” Siemon said. “This way, you can really appreciate the nature of the glass. . . . They can’t believe it, it looks like such a natural phenomenon.”
Anyone can see his work at shops like Artisanze’s in Laguna Beach or the Russell Simpson Co. in Los Angeles, but the best place may be his workshop. The atmosphere is apt to be busy--Siemon and a handful of other glassblowers work there daily, stoking the furnaces and molding the objects--but several finished pieces are displayed.
Siemon got started in the crafting business when he was 6, running errands for his father, Bob Siemon, who runs Bob Siemon Designs, a successful jewelry business. He learned jewelry-making and eventually became one of the company’s chief designers.
“I really started at the ground level,” he recalled. “Eventually, I had my own jewelry line.”
Siemon was committed to staying in jewelry but had a revelation during a summer camp for hot young designers. He was 17 and saw glass-blowing for the first time. He enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design and started learning the process.
“I just fell in love with it. There’s so much I like about it, including the fire and intensity. I’m a little bit of a pyro at heart, I guess.”
From Rhode Island, he began looking for an even more personalized education and headed to Venice, Italy, to persuade Pino Signoretto, one of the world’s foremost glassblowers, to take him as an apprentice. Siemon was well-prepared, having spent four months listening to Italian language tapes and studying Signoretto’s work.
Signoretto agreed, and Siemon enjoyed the next several months watching the glassblower and “learning all his secrets.” It was then that Siemon decided to open his business. Using $50,000 in savings and $20,000 from his dad, Siemon opened United Glass earlier this year.
Once the basic plan was in place, Siemon went about persuading a handful of other glassblowers to work with him. Eventually, artisans from Italy, New Zealand, New York, Seattle and San Francisco joined United Glass to turn Siemon’s designs into finished pieces.
“The glass community [worldwide] is pretty tight,” he said. “It makes sense that we’d get together.”
A recent open house drew a few hundred visitors who had a chance to see Siemon and his colleagues demonstrate glass-blowing.
A very cool display, said Sondra Plemon of Santa Ana, but the finished products most impressed her. She liked the color, translucence and heft of the pieces.
“They look substantial [and not] something that could break easily,” Plemons said. “I appreciate that permanence. . . . They’d fit as a centerpiece or eye-catcher in the living room.”
Jason Wellman of Irvine was intrigued by the abstract quality of the glass but wasn’t sure he’d follow Siemon’s advice to add buds or fruit to the vases and bowls.
“They’d be better by themselves,” he said. “I’d just get into them that way.”
That’s OK with Siemon. Go with form or go with function, it’s up to you.
“Most of them are meant to be practical, but there are some that I’d consider purely sculptural,” he pointed out. “With those, I guess I’d hope people would just be happy enjoying their shape.”
United Glass is at 1630 Superior Ave., Costa Mesa. (714) 548-6606.