We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leigh Berberian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leigh below.
Alright, Leigh, thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Glass is arguably one of the most important materials shaping modern society as we know it. The role of glass in human evolution—from science to technology, to health, architecture, and art—is staggering. In fact, two years ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations named 2022 the International Year of Glass! Well, twelve years ago, when I stumbled by coincidence into a career in the glass industry, I took glass for granted. After all, it was everywhere and mostly something I looked through—a clear substrate that receded into the background of life. Little did I know that I was about to embark on a whirlwind romance and an adventure with this awesome substrate!
I am the owner and Creative Director of GLASS LAB—a design/build firm dedicated to artisan, architectural flat glass. Our niche is color, layering, and texture in modern glass design. In other words, if you are an architect, interior designer, builder, or homeowner seeking to design spaces with custom glass, my team and I are the experts in what goes beyond clear. Think custom glass walls, showers, staircases, railings, furniture, and more—anywhere glass is specified, we love to push the boundaries! Utilizing digital ceramic in-glass printing, we create functional, permanent art where clear glass was once expected. Offering lamination, shape cutting, precision polishing, hand-barked edges, and custom kiln-formed textures, we seek to educate the design world on what it means when “anything is possible” with architectural glass design.
I am so grateful to surround myself with a team of lifelong glass artisans who speak the unique language of glass. Twelve years ago, I was hired by a small mom-and-pop glass company to helm their marketing and create a brand identity. My design background and creative soul couldn’t stay still in a marketing role—I needed to learn what this magical product could do!
With the original team I was hired by, we became pioneers in digital in-glass printing in America. We were small, agile, open-minded, experimental, and hungry. Think of us as the early days of Apple—but in glass! Along with the existing skills of that team, we honed custom pattern-making, lamination, shape cutting, the art of antique mirrors, and beyond. Now, twelve years after I was hired, we are taking that knowledge to the design world.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights, and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that, can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
As I mentioned, I was hired originally to bring a small mom-and-pop boutique glass company to the next level by creating a brand identity and a marketing strategy. Little did I know that all my creative synapses would fire working around and telling the story of what glass can do! If you have ever seen a rainbow float across the room from a precision-cut aris (aka edge) of glass, you know the awe it inspires. When we started playing with digital in-glass printing, I was floored that we could print on glass as though we would on paper—from abstract art to photo-realism and everything in between. But there’s more…glass is a clear substrate, a transparent “canvas.” So we can also create opacity plays with art in glass, in a way that a solid substrate such as paper, canvas, wood, or metal cannot accommodate. Also—the ceramic frit inks bond to the glass in our tempering ovens—creating a brand-new surface that has the permeability and strength of ceramic tile. Why is this so poignant in modern design? Glass is a sustainable, predominantly non-porous substance that is a smart choice for modern architectural design. By adding color and texture, we are creating functional works of art that will live on for years to come!
What’s crazy to me is that some of the technology and artistry we offer has been used in Europe, Asia, and Australia for many years but is still “tip of the iceberg” in America. How interesting, but how fun for my team and me! We consider ourselves pioneers and educators—teaching American designers and builders how they can use glass in fully custom, colorful, and inventive new ways!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
(This is a little departure from the question, but I think it works.)
One of Glass Lab’s passions (and one of mine) is keeping fine artists working, studios open, and the creative dream alive.
In an increasingly Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven world, we are seeking to pair design projects of all scopes with real, human artists of all genres. For example, when a client comes to us with a design concept for custom glass, we seek out artists that have subject matter that matches the request. Photography? Let’s find an amazing photographer and partner with them to put their images into glass. Seeking floral paintings? Traditional portrait work? Modern abstracts? Art that is rebirthed in glass takes on a whole new vibrational frequency, especially when the artist themselves has a say in how we recreate it! The same goes for one-of-a-kind kiln-formed cast glass textures. We work with lifelong glass artisans who make molds by hand to realize a client’s unique vision of texture—for their walls, showers, furniture, and more. Glass Lab gets to pair artists with projects that, quite honestly, can change the course of their careers! Instead of just logging into a stock image bank, we pride ourselves on curating relationships and driving awareness of artists through a whole new medium.
We are currently working to bring attention to what we call the “demi-fine” art genre. This is where custom glass art fills the gap between an artist’s original canvas and their paper or canvas reproductions. A modern, frameless reimagined glass piece of art can be signed, numbered, and played with color and opacity to hold an intrinsic value that lands beautifully between the original’s price and the paper reproduction—a new revenue stream for the artist and a way to create value for the art collector!
We are currently creating programs with American corporations with wall space to fill in lobbies, offices, restaurants, and public spaces—giving artists seeking to make a living and a name for themselves the opportunity to see their art come to life in glass. The company then owns incredible art that gives back to the art community, and everyone wins!
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Glass Lab’s reputation is built on the word “yes” before “no.” We WANT to be able to create. Our team HOPES to find a way to accommodate the projects that stretch our imaginations and our skills.
Our team has spent years perfecting how to design, fabricate, and deliver the very best glass in the USA. We begin with a fervent passion, an insane attention to detail and quality, and a drive to always learn more in our industry. As a new mentor of mine in the design industry said recently, “You don’t have to be big; you just have to be good.” And we are. Both good at our craft, but I know with all my heart that we are also good people. We keep our word, treat others with respect, and err on the side of optimism. Glass can break. Projects can get tricky, and communication can break down occasionally. And that’s okay. As long as we remember that behind the glass are good people in all directions. Every factory employee who touches our glass takes immense pride in their skills and in our collective success. Every artist we work with is an authentic talent, thrilled to be illuminated. Every client we make glass for has a need, a want, and a desire to own something beautiful. Every time the light hits the edge of glass and a rainbow shoots across the room, I fall in love again with this truly incredible substrate of glass.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://glasslab101.com
- Instagram: @glasslab.101
Image Credits
Cheryl Richards
Lea St. Germain