Blowing Sands Studio
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Blowing Sands Glass Studio is a Seattle glassblowing studio and gallery based in the Ballard neighborhood, founded and run by owner and lead glassblower David Smith. David Smith is the owner/operator of Blowing Sands Glass and was introduced to the art of glass blowing in 1978 while studying for a degree in Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. After graduation, in 1983, he returned to Seattle and started working full-time as a glass blower, then in 1987 bought a one-way ticket to China and traveled across Asia and the Soviet Union, spending the next 5 years living and working with artists in Finland, Germany, France and Ireland, before returning to Seattle in 1992 and establishing his own studio/hot-shop in Ballard.
Smith's technical background gives his work a distinctive grounding in materials science alongside artistic tradition. During his studies he spent his final two years in a Materials Artifacts Laboratory analyzing early ceramic processing and pigments used in cave paintings, and worked on tracing porcelain technology from China along the silk road to Europe, with a thesis on French soft-paste porcelain of the 18th century. His art glass has been collected and appreciated around the world, with glass castings installed in the Atlanta Federal Building as well as public and private buildings in the Pacific Northwest, and his work is described as an extension of his technical background in glass science and his love of the traditions and history of glass blowing throughout the world.
Since founding the studio, Blowing Sands has been part of the Ballard arts community since 1994, and Smith has worked as a glass blower for over 30 years, also taking on commission work and instruction. Some of his signature pieces include glass business card holders, drinking glasses, salt bowls, ring bowls, and bubble paperweights, and he also produces custom light fixtures for residential and business clients. His combination of hand-blown craftsmanship, scientific rigor in color and glass composition, and decades of studio experience make his pieces desirable to collectors of contemporary American studio glass.
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