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Web Exclusives EXTREME Glass: Strini Art Glass Breathes Life into the Akana Home
Web Exclusives EXTREME Glass: Strini Art Glass Breathes Life into the Akana Home
Web Exclusives
| EXTREME Glass: Strini Art Glass Breathes Life into the Akana Home |
| Written by Mark E. Ward |
| October 03, 2007 |
|
EXTREME MAKEOVER: HAWAIIAN STYLE CHANDELIER  What makes a house a home is often that one truly unique object that defines the space and imbues it with living, breathing personality. In the Akana home, the Extreme Team found that element in a custom-designed blown glass chandelier brilliantly brought to life by Rick Strini of Strini Art Glass, Maui. Strini was introduced to the project through (name to come from Rick), vice president of Forecast Lighting, a company that had worked with Extreme Makeover on 28 other shows. The show’s designers and producers liked his work so much they invited him to participate in the Akana makeover. Designer Michael Moloney explains, “Originally he offered to blow some glass for existing fixtures and I thought, if he can do that, lets see what he is really capable of.”  And so the design team came up with a plan to showcase Strini’s talents. He recalls, “I was to do the entryway chandelier, at the base of the stairwell, leading into the house. We decided that the color would be variegated from the bottom with clear textured glass, going up through sea-foam green, into turquoise and then into deep cobalt. This was to represent the colors of the ocean, as the shapes were much like an octopus. The dimensions were about four feet across and five feet tall and it weighed 300 lbs. The body and structure was stainless steel with stainless steel chain and ceiling canopy. I used Forecast A Lamps to light it and there were 225 pieces of glass.”Strini’s affair with glass stretches back to the early 1960’s when his interest was first fired by a kiln in his parents’ backyard. Years later, as a master in glass blowing, he was one of the first contemporary artists to bring new excitement to the age-old tradition of Italian-European style glass blowing. Strini’s approach to his art is direct and distinctive. He works without assistants, conceiving and creating each custom piece by relying on his own heart and hands. His innovative technique includes the creation of a customized hot glass color palette for each project. Once it’s completed, he personally signs each piece as it is finished in a cooling furnace.  His extraordinary art has graced the White House and has been exhibited at more than a dozen galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian Art Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England and the Museum Fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany.Despite all his experience and fame, Strini remains enthusiastic and humble about his role in helping create a new home for the Akana family. “This is the first time I have ever done this type of project,” he says. “The scope was so large that to be involved was really quite exciting. My donation, which was a small part of the huge project, made an effect on the whole thing. Watching it unfold and the many sequences we went through and how they choreographed the whole project was amazing. After spending –eight to 10 days making the glass and then installing the piece, I got a real sense that I was able to make a difference and actually was doing something for this family. Knowing that they really appreciated it made a big impact.” |
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