American Blown: Artist Engineered makes hand blown American Pint glasses and American Double glasses. We created the company to be a place where glass blowers and artists can work, earn a professional wage and accrue shop time where they can experiment and make their own work. Of course, we needed to make a product all of them can use and be proud of.

Glass blowers have made the choice to pursue a career based in tradition. That tradition has thrived through the ages by the passing on of techniques from master glassblower to apprentice, the use and mastery of these techniques, and passing those techniques on to peers and the next generation. An innovative bunch, glass blowers and artisans are constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be done with their medium, and are passing along these innovations side by side with tradition.

You buy the glasses, you support the artists, you become part of their world.

American Blown is a partnership between filmmaker Peter West and glass artist and consultant Carlo Parriotti. All American Blown products are made in Seattle, Washington.

ABOUT PETER WEST

Peter West was born in San Francisco California in 1966. He is an Emmy award winning filmmaker whose films have been broadcast nationally on PBS and screened at film festivals here and abroad, including Palm Springs International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival and the Montreal International Festival of Films on Art.  

His interest in glassblowing was piqued the first time he made a film for Dale Chihuly in 1986. Since then, he has made a group of films with Chihuly and his work as subject, as well as works with other artists as subjects, including “©MURAKAMI” (about Takashi Murakami for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), “Martin Kersels: Tumble Room”, and “Martin Blank: Crystal Skin”.

He had the initial idea for American Blown: Artist Engineered in 2009 as a company to provide a support system for the glass blowers and artists of the Pacific Northwest, and to elevate the perception of the trade by producing artisinally blown glass goods made for everyday use. As Peter states, “In early 2009 I was in the hotshop filming with the glassblowers and heard about how shops were closing in Seattle, and how some glassblowers were looking for other things to do with their lives, since glass wasn’t going to provide a living anymore. It made my sick to my stomach. I had a deep respect for glassblowers. The reality was that they were the coolest people I had ever met. Something about working with glass: the traditions, the comradery, and the devotion to not only the craft but to the material.” American Blown: Artist Engineered was born.

ABOUT CARLO PARRIOTTI

Carlo Parriotti is an American-born glass artist and consultant living and working in Seattle, Washington and Prague, Czech Republic. Parriotti has been working with glass in commercial and artistic application since 1972. He is one of the few Americans to have studied with, and later teach with, legendary Czech sculptor Stanislav Libensky in the 1980s. In 2001, after a 12-year stint as colourist and consultant tor the Chihuly Studio, Parriotti moved to direct construction and program development of the hot glass studio for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Currently, Carlo pursues his own artistic career while continuing to fabricate challenging works for other artists and companies. He has worked with Mike Kelley, Eric Fischl, Richard Jackson, Preston Singletary, Lino Tagliapetra, and many others. He is a Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. (He changed his name to Charlie Parriott in 1971).