 June 2004 |
Robert Held:
From Painting to Glassblowing and Back Again
Robert Held's 40-year career has been shaped by his experiences and his successes in many art media. Held first explored art through painting, but after earning a bachelor's and master's degrees in ceramics, he moved to Canada to start a college ceramics program. Soon after, he discovered glass and started a program for that as well. His own glass business has now prospered for almost 20 years.
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TCR: How did you first become interested in and get involved in working with glass?
RH: While I was in grad school at the University of Southern California, I helped to teach ceramics. I heard about a glass program in Long Beach State and went out there to check out their ceramics department. In Long Beach, while exploring the kilns, I came across this little furnace firing away. I found out it was a glassblowing furnace and was instantly fascinated by it.
Two years later, I was at Sheridan College in Canada teaching ceramics and a fund allowed me to go to North Carolina to take a class at Penland School from glassblower Mark Pieser, an industrial designer and model builder from Chicago who gave up his job for the love of glass. Fortunately for me, the other two students in the class fell in love and spent most of the two weeks with one another. I had 98 percent of the glassblowing time all to myself.
I returned to Canada inspired and excited, but I had no idea where to start collecting the tools necessary to create a hot glass studio. I searched the Yellow Pages for glassblowers. At the time (1968), there were only two listings. I called the Consumer Glass company, who at first scoffed at my request and then kindly referred me to their engineering department. The engineers were unbelievably eager to help me set up a glassblowing school in Canada. They encouraged me by donating a furnace and even had it delivered to the school. They also supplied me with the names of tool manufacturers in Germany where I could buy supplies to begin courses at Sheridan. We built the studio and soon glassblowing became a requirement for third-year ceramics students.
Unfortunately, after a few years of running the courses, our equipment began to fail and emissions were seen leaving the building. The administration decided they didn't want the glass department, anymore, but agreed that if I could find them a metal building, they could have a department. We built it, moved the tank and studio there, and I taught glassblowing there until 1976.
TCR: How have you pursued your career as an artist?
RH: I left Sheridan College in 1976 and moved to Calgary where I went on to work for Canadian Art Glass. This company did not have very many clients and were wanted to increase their exposure. They hired me to do production, but eventually I became general manager. While there, I helped open markets in the United States and established 15 new major accounts. I stayed there for two years until the company packed up and moved to Ontario. I had just bought a house in Calgary and decided that I didn't want to move. In 1978, I opened a hot glass studio with partner and fellow glassblower Jeff Brunette. Our production art glass took off and we had a successful company on our hands. After meeting my future wife, Chris, the two of us decided to move to Vancouver and open our own studio: Robert Held Art Glass. This year we're celebrating 25 years in business and the company's doing better than ever.
TCR: Who is the market for your work? What is your strategy for reaching them?
RH: Approximately 85 percent of our business comes from our wholesale U.S. customers. The rest comes from Canada. Our strategy for reaching our wholesale clients has been to market ourselves at trade shows. Recently, we decided to broaden our market by offering both wholesale and retail customers access to our online store. The bulk of the business comes from wholesale shows and gallery sales.
I run a production studio and I've always been a fast worker, so I find that the fast-pace works best for us here. I have about 13 glassblowing apprentices in my studio creating my designs in house Monday to Saturday. That's how we all earn a living from our art.TCR: Have there been major turning points in your career as an artist?
RH: Absolutely! Starting back in high school, I focused most of my time and energy into my painting. In college, I continued to pursue painting as a fine art major. In my second year, I fell in love with clay. I specialized in education and fine arts with a major in ceramics and minor in weaving. I thought education would be a good fall back plan for me. In my second year of teaching, I moved from ceramics to glass and eventually decided to leave the teaching world and begin my own studio. Ironically, I'm finding myself more and more interested in my painting again. It's all come full circle.
TCR: Do you see any business challenges specific to artists who work in glass?
RH: There are two main challenges for people wanting to enter the glassblowing industry. The first is the cost. Glassblowing entails huge operations costs. Even after the start-up costs to set up your furnaces and even after you've got all your supplies, you've got gas running the furnaces seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Your furnaces have to keep that glass molten, so they're running all the time. Glassblowing is definitely one of the most expensive art forms.
The second challenge is the long learning curve. Glassblowing is a very difficult medium. It takes a long time before a glassblower is really skilled. Even having spent time as a professional potter, I found glassblowing to be the most challenging art form I had ever undertaken.
I've tried to overcome these problems by trying to economize on overhead costs. My decision to run a production-based studio means that rather than produce a few expensive pieces per day, we are able to produce more, less expensive products faster. It was a decision I was a bit uneasy making at first - choosing production over art. But by continuously running a program that consistently challenges the guys in my studio, their skill level also increases and the value of the work is increased accordingly.
TCR: What has been the most difficult thing you have encountered in your work?
RH: The most difficult thing has definitely been doing double duty as a manager and an artist. With the staff this size, management is a big job in itself and unfortunately, doesn't allow me as much time as I'd like to focus on my own artwork. I wish I could be blowing glass all the time, but I can't because I've got a business to run!
TCR: What, in terms of business insight, have you learned to do or not to do over the years?
RH: Well, I've definitely learned a thing or two about working with your spouse! Chris and I knew from the start that to be successful we had to make sure we were on the same page. We knew it was important to have the same common goals both long and short-term. We've been successful because we've built a business plan together, stuck to the plan and always kept the future and growth potential of the company in mind.
This has also enabled us to break into the U.S. and European markets - the real benchmark for our success. What has really helped us is our initial agreement that it was more important to find a niche for our product and develop business relationships with companies before we developed a staff who could then compliment the needs of the company, rather than the other way around.TCR: How has the Internet affected your business?
RH: Until now, our Website has only been a tool to increase awareness about Canadian art glass and our company. In 2004, Robert Held Art Glass is launching its first online store for both retail and wholesale sales - a much-requested service in the past few years. People from all over the world will be able to order our glass online. Our new Website at www.robertheld.com is also going to explain how we use ancient techniques to create both modern and classic designs. In addition, we plan to offer retailers a 'store locator' free of charge, so that customers will know where to find our glass. We're really excited about the new site and I think it's really going to take off.
TCR: What is the next step for you?
RH: The next step involves cutting down my hours in the glass studio and focusing more on my painting.
TCR: What is your show schedule and where is your work available?
RH: Robert Held Art Glass will be at the San Francisco International Gift Fair in July and the Canadian Gift & Tableware show and the New York International Gift Fair in August. In September, we will be at the Maison & Objet in L'espace Parc des Expositions, Paris Nord Villepinte, France.
Of course, my work is always on exhibition at my own gallery in Vancouver. We've just redecorated and I hope you'll all stop by next time you're in town.
Robert Held Art Glass
Vancouver, BC
(604) 737-0020 or (800) 665-0725
fax: (604)737-0052
info@robertheld.com
www.robertheld.com