Murano-trained · Portland Studio

Where
fire
becomes
form.

Handblown glass objects shaped at 1,200°C. Each piece is formed in a single breath — irreducible, unrepeatable.

Scroll

1,200 °C Working temp

01 — The Breath

Glass is not made.
It is coaxed.

Silica, ash, and heat: these three elements have produced glass for three thousand years. Nothing in the chemistry has changed. What changes is the blower — the accumulated hours of muscle memory that let a person shape 1,200°C material with nothing more than breath, gravity, and timing.

At Vitrara, we work in a single session per piece. No return trips to the furnace. No corrections. The form that emerges is the form the material was willing to become.

"The furnace doesn't forgive hesitation. Neither does the piece."

02 — Collection

Current works.

Each series is limited to the number achievable in a single firing week. When the kiln cools, the series closes.

Series A · 2024

Cinder Vessel

Borosilicate · ash-grey patina

Series B · 2025

Ember Bowl

Soda-lime · copper-ruby core

Series C · 2025

Smoke Column

Clear-body · trapped air inclusions

Series D · 2026

Tide Vase

Sea-green · wave-fold seam

Series E · 2026

Salt Flat Dish

Flat-press · mineral matte finish

Series F · 2026

Lava Pendant

Suspended glass · amber threading

03 — Process

Five acts at
the furnace mouth.

The sequence cannot be shortened. Each act builds the conditions for the next. Skip any step and the glass remembers.

Gather

1,200 °C

The blowpipe collects molten glass from the furnace. Weight and temperature are felt, not measured.

Shape

1,100 °C

Marver contact creates the initial geometry. The glass is still forgiving — briefly.

Blow

1,050 °C

A single sustained breath inflates the gather. This is the moment that cannot be taken back.

Sculpt

900 °C

Jacks, shears, and gravity finalize the form. Speed is essential — the window is under four minutes.

Anneal

480 °C → 20 °C

18 hours in the annealing oven. Cooling too fast creates invisible fractures that surface years later.

04 — The Atelier

A studio built
for heat
and time.

Our Portland studio houses a 2,000-pound Spruce Pine batch glass furnace operating continuously — it has not been cold in nine years. The studio temperature rarely drops below 35°C in summer. This is not incidental: it is the condition of the work.

Visitors are welcome during open blowing sessions on the first Friday of each month. No booking required. Arrive after the furnace warms — we begin at noon.

2,000 lb furnace batch

9 yr Continuous operation

3 Gaffers on staff

18 hr Annealing cycle

05 — Commission

A piece
made for
one room.

We accept four to six bespoke commissions per year. Each begins with a conversation about the space, the light, and what you want the glass to hold.

Site visit and light study where possible
2–4 month lead time depending on complexity
Single-session creation, witnessed on request
Delivery in custom hand-packed crate
Lifetime crack repair guarantee

Luminaries

In their own light

"Vitrara makes objects that seem to have arrived, not been made. There is no design language here — only consequence."

— Wallpaper*, Objects of Desire 2025

"In an age of machine-perfect surfaces, the slight asymmetry of a Vitrara piece is the entire point. The breath is visible."

— Monocle, Issue 175

"I placed the Cinder Vessel on a north-facing windowsill and have not moved it in two years. The light changes; it is never the same object."

— Commission client, Edinburgh 2024

Wherefirebecomesform.

Glass is not made.It is coaxed.