THE BLUEGRASS STORY

Borned in Brooklyn, NY, in the year of 1983, Ari,(thats me) was immersed in culture from the start.  My earliest memories of boomboxes, and graffiti, and a strong sense of community between people of all walks of life are much different from those formed after, after we moved to southern New Jersey. 

The glass culture showed up when Phish came to town, and my and my friends would oogle over the amazing hand made pipes we bought on lot.  It became a tradition to seak out the headiest pipes we could afford, and treasure our glass collections.  It wasnt long till I was bringing cases of glass i would purchase from local artists to the show to sell myself.  

In 2005 I enrolled in Salem Community College's Scientific Glassblowing program, and continued to work in South Jersey at an amazing Scientific Glass shop called H.S. Martin.  Here i learned how to build complex glassware and gained immense wisom about the medium from the Kontes Brothers(OG's in the scientific glass world) and some of the other folks at the factory.  the attention to detail and cleanliness of the finished product set a high standard for my work. 

I always made pipes and tubes at home, and eventually joined forces with Hitman Glass to assemble some of their more complex pieces and collabs. That wave lead me to Humboldt county, where not only did i get to work alongside artists like Banjo, Piper Dan, Mr. Gray, Sakibomb, and so many others, I also met my wife and started a family here. It was just before the arrival of my first kid, in 2016, that the idea of the Lamp came to fruition.  

The Lamps have evolved and are Bluegrass Glass' most known item, but i continue to pursue other forms of both functional and nonFunK glasswares.   It's been a crazy 20 year ride.  The biggest challenge has been keeping it interesting for myself.  Fortunately glass always has more to offer, we as artists just need to take some time to listen to it, and dig a little deeper to find the next pattern, or effect, or whatever moves us enough to wanna get back in the shop. and sometimes ya just gotta KEEP ON LAMPIN!!!

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FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY BLUEGRASS HEART,

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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!!!

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IT KEEPS ME GOING, FEEDS MY FAMILY, and and has supported this creative journey.  Much Love!

-Ari-