Humboldt County has become an internationally recognized mecca for glass-blowing. How this happened is a story of cannabis prohibition, social media, and life after the Grateful Dead.
JPR’s Michael Joyce continues bringing us his series exploring craftsmanship in the context of the four classical elements. This is story number three: EARTH
Bryan Raskin spins tubes of glass in an intense gas flame.
“Just to describe what this flame looks like … there’s a big blue flame and an inner kind of needle point . The hottest point would be at the tip of that needle and I say we’re pushing probably 3000-degrees.”
This isn't window or bottle glass. It's what most of us call pyrex or laboratory glass. It’s made of boro-silicate; essentially, soda-lime and assorted elements from the earth. Today, Bryan is making a mug. Most days it’s light fixtures. But that wasn’t always the case. He shows me a photo.
“So this was me in 1998. I was on the cover of High Times Magazine with a bong.”
Bryan estimates there are well over a hundred full-time glassblowers in Humboldt County; most of them doing so-called “functional” glass; which is basically glass you can smoke - pipes and bongs. Many got their start selling at Grateful Dead and Phish concerts.
Bryan went from bongs, to mugs, and then noticed more and more people asking about the light fixtures he made to brighten his vendors booth. He recognized an opportunity to tap a niche market and change his life.
"I had a kid at home," he explains. "At that point the shop was at my house. I had to think about her walking in and seeing bongs. I just needed to be doing something else for myself. I didn’t want my life revolving around marijuana. I just didn’t want to be that guy.”
A few who have stayed with pipes and bongs have taken glassblowing into the stratosphere in terms of talent, technique … and prices. There are now elaborate collector bongs selling for over $100,000. Just last month a smokeable skateboard sold for over $25,000 at an Arcata exhibition.
Bongs have gone from the head shop to the fine arts gallery and one of the Humboldt glassblowers who has led the way is known as Banjo. He has nearly 85,000 followers on Instagram. That’s over 10 times more than Bill Gates. Now, after 17 years of supporting a family of seven on glassblowing alone, Banjo thinks his craft is being transformed both by legalization and social media.
“In the last five years with Instagram and social media and the way that’s worked out it’s like a whole ‘nother world," he says. "Social media has completely reshaped the landscape of glass. Completely. There are people now who have only been blowing for two to three years who are already getting $5,000 a day and selling pieces for tens of thousands of dollars. That is social media right there!”
Jesse Mitchell manages Humboldt Glassblowers. The Arcata and Eureka shops sell the glasswork of over 70 local artists. He thinks social media has changed the industry in another important way.
“I think as far as the glasswork goes the biggest change is people are starting to share techniques and secrets. When I first started 8-9 years ago people kept it to themselves or shared with their apprentices. Now with social media people are sharing techniques, they’re traveling, they’re meeting up with each other. It’s worldwide now versus county.”
Back at Bryan Raskin’s studio, he’s walking me through the finishing touches on our mug .
“Now that all the color is on there I’m going to work it in so it’s melted into the glass. These swirls are kind of my signature. It’s kind of how people recognize my pieces”
Bryan has his own observations on the impact social media -- and increasingly liberal cannabis laws -- have had on his field.
“Those guys you see them on Instagram with 50-100 thousand followers. When I started we didn’t have any of that and people were actually scared to post a pipe on the internet and have a website. That was taboo!”
I ask Bryan what he thinks of all the change - the big reach of social media, the big bongs, and the big money.
“It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay," he says. "But you see these pieces and they are mind-blowing. For someone who has been in the industry I love seeing it. I don’t understand who is buying these things but it doesn’t hurt the glass market or scene for these extraordinary pieces to be going there. They’re truly art.”
Glassblowers like Bryan and Banjo believe that with marijuana legalization likely, their craft will not only emerge completely out of the closet , but also become more widely accepted at fine art galleries and museums.
