As humans, many of us enjoy embracing the beauty of art. Adding a piece of creative work to your home often means it is delegated to hang on a wall, gathering dust. Sol Mesz, founder and crafty force behind Sillice, seamlessly blends the worlds of design and practical, everyday items – all while using recycled glass and natural colors. Plates, candle holders, soap dishes, board games, and jewelry are just a few of the many creations made in Mesz' Oxnard, California studio. During my recent chat with the artist, I found out about her background, desire to use eco-friendly materials, unique upcoming projects, and more.
Victoria E: What first drew your interest in artistic glass work?
Sol Mesz: Actually it all started with welding. While I was still in Buenos Aires, one day, out of nowhere, I decided I wanted to weld. In asking around, I was given the name of a renowned glass artist (Carlos Herzberg ) that happened to do welding for the structure of his glass sculptures. So I went to see him with the sole purpose of learning how to weld. During my first year with him, I concentrated mostly in metal objects and paid little attention to glass: I built a small table, a CD rack, a chandelier and a lamp. However, my teacher, being a glass artist, encouraged me to include glass into my designs. Slowly but surely, I started making the transition to glass.
Up until recently, I did mostly functional objects (jewelry, sushi sets, plates, candle ware, etc.). I guess this is partly because I have always worked as a product manager (for internet products, though), and partly because of my practical nature (I don’t like decorative objects that have no other function than to gather dust…). Only after taking art classes two years ago and being around artists, I started getting ideas for decorative pieces. So to my functional pieces I have now added a decorative line of work, which was very well received at my last solo show.
But even with my decorative pieces I always try to build some interactivity. In most of them, the design can be re-configured by the “user”. For instance: in the layers series, the panels can be and rotated, and the stacking order of the glass panels can be altered as well. Most artists want their pieces to express their own vision. However, I like the interaction with the customer (in fact, I love doing custom work) and letting them participate in the design process, if only by letting them alter an already made piece. Far from feeling that my vision is altered, I enjoy seeing the public engaged with my work.
My glass “education” includes training by renowned Argentine glass and vitraux artist Carlos Herzberg in different glass working techniques, including pâte de verre, vitraux, slumped and fused glass, mold making, sand casting and color making (this is a rare technique). I took ceramic classes to gain a deeper understanding of the chemical processes that occur with the substances I use to make colors. I took alampworking glass to expand the range of my glass working techniques. I also took a silversmithing class, in order to combine glass and silver.
VE: Upon starting your company Sillice, did you begin with the intention of operating as a sustainable business, using recycled glass? Why or why not?
SM: This is an interesting question. When I was looking for suppliers, I went to a local glass shop. When I explained to the owner what I wanted and what I was going to use it for, he asked if I could re-use window glass. His business was to supply his clients with new glass and whenever he replaced a window, he would take the old one with him as a courtesy, so he had a lot of second-hand glass that, if he did not give to me, would go straight to the dumpster.
I knew that glass does not lose quality when reprocessed and can be re-used over and over, so I took a sample and made some test pieces. Since that worked well, I started using him (and later other contractors in the area) to source my glass. Eventually, people in the community knew that I was working with recycled glass, so they started calling me to see if I could use their discarded glass.
Another interesting thing is that I used to sell my work in an upscale community, and I feared that if I said that my work was made with recycled glass it would diminish the value of my pieces to them. So for the longest time I did not mention the recycled nature of my pieces.
Eventually, I started feeling more comfortable, and talked more about the recycling. To my surprise, this brought a lot of attention to my work, to the extent of having a county/state agency contact me to see if I was interested in developing my work at a larger scale. This was partly because window glass is the only type of glass that does NOT get recycled, so it was a very interesting enterprise for them (more details about why window glass is not recycled in the attachment I sent you last time).
They also put me in touch with a non-profit in northern California that was at the time organizing a competition for artists and small businesses that used recycled glass as part of their materials. This competition was sponsored by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the DOC (Department of Conservation) and I won an honorable mention. As a side comment, one of the more important prices went to an artist that made a real-life size torso sculpture with “one-buck-chuck” bottles. The sculpture was called “one-buck-chick”.
Another example of the attention that got the recycled nature of my work was the City of Palm Desert selecting my sculpture proposal as part of their public art program. Because they had just built a new Visitor Center facility, which was a green building (the first in the Coachella Valley), they felt that my sculpture “represented the spirit of the building” and placed it right at the entrance of the Visitor Center. This sculpture was made not only with recycled glass (donated by WM), but also with recycled metal from a rocket factory. You can view pictures of the sculpture here.
Also, I got a lot of media attention, in particular the green media: TreeHugger and other green blogs, Body+Soul (a Martha Stewart magazine), Viva (a lifestyle, green magazine from Canada), etc.
Now that I have found my niche, I do make a conscious effort to use recycled or natural materials whenever possible (like the raw materials I use to make my colors), in order to be consistent with my and my clients philosophy and lifestyle.
VE: Of the wide variety of items featured in your online store, which are your favorite to make?
SM: I have a few favorites, and each one is so for different reasons.
The jewelry line I like because it gives me a lot of creative room. You have to pack a lot of creativity in a space no bigger than 2×2. So I play with different creative resources like colors, textures. And then, once the design is chosen, I need to play with variations of the design.
The games are one of the favorites because I love to play and I love the elegance and yet functionality of the “hand-made games”. They can also be a creative challenge, because you have to adapt the original parts of the game to a design that I can recreate with my fused glass techniques. It is not just about recreating the game, but recreating it in an original and creative way. I have been working for some time now on an idea for a chess game which I will soon release.
Another thing that I like a lot is doing custom work. Unlike most artists, I like the interaction with the customer and the “creative energy” that is generated with the interchange of ideas. People like a lot being able to participate in the design process of the piece. It makes the piece more significant to them and it creates a connection between the customer and the piece that goes beyond simple ownership. An anecdote related to this is about a necklace that a customer wanted to have in a particular color combination. When she came to the studio to pick the colors, she was asking questions about the production process. So, I asked her if she could stay for an hour and gave her a pair of protective gloves and eye protection, taught her how to cut and paint the glass, and within an hour she had actually created the piece herself, making the piece she was commissioning for her friend even more meaningful. I then fired, finished and assembled the piece for her.
VE: Do you find that custom work for individual customers is a large part of your business?
SM: Not currently, but I am getting more and more custom requests. I am actually partially redesigning my current website to give more customization options. As I mentioned, people that buy hand made are people that are already looking for something “out the ordinary” and something special to them. Also, they also “buy” the relationship with the artist, knowing who made the item and how. So because of this, a natural next step is the custom work.
VE: As an eco business owner and operator, how do you balance your goals of helping to change/save the world and making a profit.
SM: Those two goals do not necessarily have to be conflicting. Not in my case, at least. The more I sell (in terms of product, not necessarily money), the more I contribute to the environment because I recycle more glass.
VE: Do you have any upcoming events or exhibitions?
SM: No, not upcoming. I am working on the redesign of my website to offer more options, but that’s it for now. I am actually very actively looking for fellow artists that also care for the environment to do a collective show. If anyone is interested we should get together!
VE: What do you say to the folks that still believe global warming is just a myth?
SM: With all the evidence to the contrary, I think that those statements are made for political and economical reasons. I understand that changing current methods of production or supplies can be very costly. Unfortunately, that suffers from short-term vision as the changes will have to be made regardless at some point, since current due to the lack of supplies in the near future. I think that a good counter-strategy would be to show the economic benefits of going green. That is the only way to change an industry.
VE: Do you have any other nifty, secret projects in the works that you could hint at?
SM: Well… I mentioned that I made a sculpture of a Palm Tree for the City of Palm Desert. I love succulent and cactus plants because of their rich shapes and textures, so I am working on a set of smaller sculptures of cacti to go with that palm tree. It is in the early stages yet, but I am envisioning it as a “cactus garden” that is a companion to the large palm tree.