Glass is an extremophile.
Through a variegated background spanning music, education, exercise science, technology, business, horticulture, and others, Sean found glass art later than most as a summative representation of everything that came before. Bringing an absolutely wacky breadth of experiences to glass creation, Cactus Glassworks is Sean’s manifestation of never quite managing to do things the direct or easy way. Working exclusively solo in a craft that is dominated by assistantship culture, Sean’s work is marked by both perspectival and procedural uniquenesses which promise to create results distinctly unlike what you can usually expect from this art form.
Please feel welcome to wander around at your leisure and participate in the results of my journey from lifetime glass enthusiast, to sudden untrained glassblowing obsessivist, to self-trained multi-inspired make-it-if-I-can-do-it-on-the-end-of-a-blowpipe mad scientist-type. Thank you so much for being here. -Sean Gordon
A moment in the making of a glow-in-the-dark Slimer Ornament.
Story & Mission
Cactus Glassworks emerged from a draw to the extreme. Extremophiles are defined by an ability to live—even thrive—in extreme environments. This describes what it means to be a glass artist. The molten glass starts at a temperature of over two thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and every step of the making process involves the artist’s hands being inches away from this extreme heat. If that’s not extreme enough, if the glass is allowed to get too cold at any point (a difference of seconds), the glass will break and may literally explode in the artist’s face. It sounds dramatic, but this is reality for a glass artist. The glass itself is an extremophile, with physical, visual, and other extreme properties that are totally unlike any other material.
It is this nature of being extreme that inspired Cactus Glassworks, though the name comes from another kind of extremophile. Compared to other plants, and frankly all other known living things, cacti are just as extreme as glass in many ways. Across Cactus Glassworks you’ll find cacti as a repeated theme, and the more you explore the more you may learn about these wild extremophiles and what makes them so extreme.
The mission of Cactus Glassworks is to be like these incredible extremophiles. That means things are done differently here. One typical feature of handmade glass is that it’s almost always prohibitively expensive. $900 vases, $1500 bowls—not extreme enough. One of the ways that Cactus Glassworks is different is extreme affordability. Everyone deserves access to handmade glass art. You’ll find this value reflected in the variety of available designs and price points, in the availability of one-offs and discounted seconds, and in occasional special discounts and sales. Handmade glass is for everyone: if you have a set budget and can’t find anything available that you like, contact me and we’ll design something together to your budget.
You’ll find touches of the extreme in every corner of Cactus Glassworks. From designs that you won’t find anywhere else, to exceptionally customer-focused service, and an overall approach that’s as far from the norm as glass and cacti are, expect Cactus Glassworks to convince you that being an extremophile is awesome.
