Therese Nolan and Robert Hoke have intertwined both their skills in design and in fabrication of contemporary glass lamps for almost twenty years.
Starting with the traditional copper-foil and solder technique developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany they quickly moved on to a varied number of techniques which include multiple fusing, embossing, sand carving and etching processes. They apply various densities of glass frit from fine powder to slivers to small nuggets to achieve the desired effect. Black glass powder is layered on a white glass surface in a multi-fired process and then a design is sandblasted or etched into the surface and then the piece is fire polished numerous times. Powder and other densities of frit are manipulated on the surface of the glass with paint brushes, tweezers and other tools to achieve a spontaneous painterly effect that when fired comes out almost like a smooth glass textured fabric.
All of these processes are combined with steel, aluminum and brass to focus solely on producing contemporary sculptural lamps in an attempt to push the form beyond its use as a lighting object.
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