When Dale Chihuly began blowing glass sculptures in 1965, he began a journey that would forever change and mold the future of hand blown glass chandeliers and lighting. Although Chihuly’s works were all externally illuminated, his dramatic new vision of creating large scale blown glass installations laid the foundation for a completely new world of functional blown glass lighting to rise to soring heights.
In the last 20 years, in the hands of American artists like White Elks and later on, Seth Parks Designs and Seth Parks Glass, these designs have been replicated and expanded on for retail to consumers while still remaining within the main design genre stated by Dale Chilhuly.
About 16 years ago, Sans Souci arrived on the scene of glass blowing with their version of Hand Blown Glass Cascading Chandeliers and Glass Installations. With large government grants and funding by the Czech Republic and the EU to financially boost their art into mass production, they create large scale installations for hotels, event centers, and commercial spaces.
When Blown Glass Collective began creating functional, internally illuminated chandeliers, their creations were only offered to their private design clients and not the general public. Constantly pushing the boundaries of Hand Blown Glass Chandeliers, Cascading Chandeliers, and Glass Installations, (and at the persistent encouragement of their clients and admirers) BGC finally began offering their work worldwide in the last 10 years. Still focused on working almost exclusively with residential clients, BGC continues to innovate and create completely custom creations for a limited number of clients each year.