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ISSUE: OCTOBER 2007 |
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Heady Glass Art Gallery
For years, like many of you, my life has been led by a subtle undertone of Reversals, Millis, Glass on Glass anything and the hopes of someday having a multi room collection busting at the seams with RooRs, Kind Creations, AK’s, J.lees and so on. Like many of you, I have had this love of glass backed by frustration… a collector’s frustration.
Ok so maybe you California glass heads are spoiled, but for the rest of us, it’s often times a struggle to obtain top quality art from our favorite artists. We’re constantly forced into going through the artist themselves, which isn’t always bad, but its proved not the most convenient, and sometimes the end product isn’t exactly what the collector anticipated.
I realized a gap in the glass retail scene, but didn’t know how to change it for the better. It struck me one day while I was reading a magazine that stated a very well known high-end jewelry store was making an investment of $3.5 Million into their lighting fixtures. Just lights. To most that seemed like a waste of money, but to me it meant a little more. This store believed that the way it displayed its product, rather then the normal aesthetics and interior of the store, would give the customer justification to purchase some of the most beautiful and expensive forms of jewelry from them.
Now let me ask you collectors a question. You walk into your local “head shop” and amongst all the Bob Marley posters, incense, knives, dildos and overall retail pandemonium, you notice a Freeek piece nestled in between a few other pieces in the heady case. The lights are kind of dim so you can’t really see the colors, and when you ask about it the employee doesn’t know whom, or by what method it was made. Are you going to feel justified buying it there? Absolutely not, and that’s the same reason why few by Rolex’s from pawn shops. After living this question way too many times, I set off to give this form of art and its artists a clean well lit gallery to display their work for other to see and learn about.
Heady Glass opened on August 11th, 2007 with one goal in mind. Showcase this art form to as many people as possible, and educate them about this thriving underground industry. |
We took templates and notes on how the best galleries displayed their art, and how the most creative retailers displayed their products, and intermeshed the two. The result was a clean, spacious gallery with high definition monitors to display lampworking DVDs, a knowledgeable staff and a place for collectors to take a sigh of relief while the future collectors could marvel at the art.
Unlike most head shops, we specialize in showcasing how many different forms of glass are available, not just the functional forms. We love showing people the beauty and complexity of marbles, goblets, pendants and anything involving glass. Being a gallery we take it upon ourselves to showcase a full spectrum of functional glass as well, not just $20 pipes. We’re collectors first and foremost, so we took a lot of time bringing in the Art that is most sought after by collectors.
We stock our cases with Kind Creations, Jason Lennon, Morgan, Soreal, Freeek, N3rd and the list grows daily. We’ve also realized because of this past gap in this specific industry, that the non-collector, even though they loved pipes, had no clue about collecting or even that there are industry respected artists slaving over these pieces. We look at every one of these customers has a project. One in which the end result wont be someone who knows a couple artists by name, but more or less a collector who appreciates the art first, and the functionality of it secondary.
It’s going to take years probably before this catches on, but were ok with that. We really see ourselves as one of the first in a second generation of glass retail shops, and to us that means it’s our job to start spreading the glass gospel to all who seem remotely interested. We don’t care about the money, seeing as we spent all of ours. We don’t really care about being a huge phenom shop that people drive hours to. We care about glass and the artists behind it, and want other too as well. That’s our mission statement.
All in all, were glad to be here helping collectors and future collectors alike. As time goes on we plan on having glass Art shows, parties, and whatever it takes to get people to notice that these aren’t just tobacco pipes, but rather a life style.
We have to thank everyone who has helped us along the way, but more specifically the excellent staff at Glass Aficionado Magazine who have done nothing short of push this scene to where it is today. Every one of us owes them a big thanks. I know I sure do because if it weren’t for them, we would most likely be another “head shop” selling “pipes”. Thanks a lot guys!! |
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