Holiday Sales Lag Behind Retailer's Hopes

It's been a long three years since the economy went berserk. For retailer's it's meant a really bumpy ride to the bottom; or at the very least dozens of months of doldrums. It feels allot like being becalmed. Where did the people go?? Or when they do come in the door, why is it so hard to connect with their wallets? It seems they want the experience of shopping without the monetary consequence. I'll save that rant for another day. Now I looked up the results of the season on Tiffany's and on the artfulhome.com site (where some great hand crafted works are showcased) and I see that the dreary sales we've experienced in our gallery are likewise being experienced by the "big guys" in our industry.


Luxury goods is our realm. Sounds kind of highfalutin' but that's the case. Nourot makes glass that is a luxury item. Unless you have been nurturing your contemporary art glass collection and funding it's acquisition regularly, you just are damned reluctant to splurge now on a new important work.
Any who, the Tiffany chain reports that the Holiday sales last month were weak. Even though 50% of Tiffany sales come from outside the USA, the outlook is "anemic" according to the web's Financial Times website. The Tiffany stock has recently fallen 10.5 percent to $59.94. To be honest, what does it say to give something from Tiffany's in the current economy? Hey, money is no object to me, I am a master of the universe. This year that sentiment was held in check. Forget you, Santa Baby.


Nowhere could I find a similar report on the exact outcome of the craft-business site artfulhome.com. But there is evidence that it's hurting, too, because they had a 50% off sale last June and ran another one early in 2012. Can't be a stock reduction, I don't think they stock items. They just get the vendors (artists) to promise to hold stock for drop shipment when the site makes a sale for them. The margin there has to be pretty small.
Come to think of it, is Tiffany stuff made in America? Likely it's assembled in America from foreign made components? Anybody who knows drop us a line and let us know.
Future prediction is this: anybody still in business in 2012 knows how to cut costs. And how to make a sale. Look for more great deals everywhere until the banking and housing markets stabilize. Can't say how long that'll be. Perhaps now is the right time to look for deals on the luxury market.
Information taken from Bloomberg.com and FinancialTimes' FT.com

Steuben No More, Say NO!

The Cornell Daily sun reported today, September 8, 2011, that Steuben, the 100 plus year old American Crystal factory will close later this year.
In the press release, the company said its sole factory and a store, both located on the Corning Museum of Glass campus, will close Nov. 29
The flagship store in NYC will close when it's inventory is sold.
What a shock. I can hardly think. I know the costs involved in keeping the furnaces stoked. The increase in energy, materials, chemicals, transportation, labor, benefits, safety, and gosh what else? I know the drop offs in sales. Don't we all know the drop off in sales of objects of beauty for the American home?
It is truly an American Art Glass Armegedon. Nobody can imagine an American art glass scene without Corning New York's iconic century old lead crystal factory curning out those one of a kind designer works by visiting artists and the usual cigar ash trays, trumpet flower vases and the like. The polishing room there was as close as we, Americans got to a traditonal glass works where there were actual highly skilled glass finishers working daily on loads of fabulous flawless objects d'arte. The blowers were on a par with many other countries, it was in the melting and the polishing that Steuben in the later half of the 20th Century excelled.
It's all too much for me. I have to go and chill now.

Fenton Glass Works Shuts Down

American art glass has lost another glass works. 106 year old Fenton Glass in Williamstown, West Virginia has shut down it's art glass production July 7, 2011.  Fenton glass is the original Americana glass company, making many kinds of hobnailed and moulded works as well as the famous and collectible "milk glass."
What once was a thriving works with 700 people in 2001 is now going to be a specialty products company.
President George Fenton says: "It went up very quickly and it went down quickly, too. If it works ( switching to specialty architectural products and beads) I would guess we would probably be down to 20 people here."
The town will really feel the loss of jobs.  We wonder what kinds of work these former glass makers will turn to in West Virginia?
When our studio started up in 1973 the only cullet we could get was from Fenton's.  The first Nourot Glass Studio pieces made at the Light Opera in 72--73 were made from scrap we got from Fenton Glass.  Little troll bookends and mushrooms we tossed into the furnace in Ghirardelli along with a box of "color" (which was usually manganese.)  This fined out in our little electric tank furnace to make the first Light Opera pieces by Micheal Nourot. Pieces from this era are signed, for example: LO-3-73, "Light Opera, March 1973."

Lino Tagliapietra Chrysler Museum Show, Virginia

Lino Tagliapietra is one of the world's most well known glass artists. His works span six decades. No stranger to American art glass, Mr. Tagliapietra continues to impress the public with his effortless and elegant style. Widely copied now, but never duplicated.
Tomorrow his show at Norfolk, Virginia's Chrysler Museum closes. Here is a link to the article about it.
Micheal Nourot sends his regards to Lino and all his collectors. Lino, we remember your compliment when you blew glass at Nourot Studio in 1994 for the Glass Artists Society Annual Meeting: "Micheal, that red is the best I have ever seen."

BAGI Auction Raises the Bar

Last night April 18th, the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose, California, proudly presented the works of over 100 glass artists in their annual dinner/live auction. Many of the works there went for over the listed "fair market value". A few fetched in excess of $4,000.
Micheal Nourot and Ann Corcoran were the featured speakers just after the silent auction at 6 PM. The Nourots presented a power point on the formative years of the Nourot Glass Studio of Benicia. Afterwards they took questions from the 90 collectors who attended.
Quite a few San Francisco Bay Area glass artists attended as well. In the crowd were Mary B. White and Randy Strong.
The silent portion of the auction offered eight pieces of early Nourot Glass donated by Judy and Jerry Rose. The nicest one was the vertical stripe square cane murrini cylinder by Micheal Nourot.
The BAGI auction was held at 88 Fourth Street in the seventh floor ball room. The dinner was catered by the Fairmont Hotel. Event chair Steven Aldrich said, "I'm really plesed with what we've raised. It's been a good evening." Among the auctioned items were dinner with a visiting artist, lessons in the hot shop or outright donation to the electric furnace fund. The BAGI hot shop wants to go more eco-friendly by going electrical and over $11,500 was raised towards the cost of a new electric furnace. At BAGI they have classes, workshops, studio rentals a gallery and a gift shop. See their site at ww.bagi.org

Getting Descriptive: the SLS Hotel vibe

Here's a description of the Oscar Gift Suite venue: "Envision a wild mash-up of furniture and decorative pieces from the
creative mind of fabled designer Philippe Starck and the hotel’s owner
and .... Japanese soaking tubs and a shiatsu massage room also contribute
to the Zen ambience. The surrounding neighborhood is as vibrant and
fashionable as they come."
Dear friends, we from Nourot Glass Studio in Benicia, will be staying in the conference room on the floor under our table. No, just kidding. We are in a regular double room at the convention rate. We'll also be working our butts off to present the best of Nourot's red glass to attendees of the GBK Productions Oscar Gift "Lounge".
There will be morning updates as to which of the celebrities have confirmed to attend. Then the giggling will begin at our table as await each fabled legendary figure and match them up with the right favor of art glass which we'll already have packaged and stashed beneath the table. In addition, we will offer them "the envelope", a gift certificate to be used in Benicia at our gallery at a later date.

Golden Opportunity for Art Glass

Recognized as valuable among settled peoples since civilization began, gold is fascinatingly attractive as an art glass color. Nourot Studio in Benicia, California makes "Placer" a new pattern of art glass with some real 23 karat gold leaf layered over colored glasses. "Most of what turns gold on the surface", says, maker Micheal Nourot, "is the glass formula we call silver lustre glass. This is actually silver nitrate that is mixed into the raw materials before the glass 'batch' is melted."

Known internationally for their red ruby glass titled "Scarlet Nova"(see June 29 post for image) the Nourot Studio produces many series of different art glass vessels in dozens of shapes and sizes. For a complete list of shapes and sizes you can email the studio for a list. Prices for the "Placer" Series shown above start at $370.00 USD for a cabinet size vase. Above is the "Mantle Ovid", 11 inches in diameter, 7 inches tall. Every piece of Nourot Glass is completely hand blown and signed with a series number, code, year and artist's initials. Click on the picture of the gallery wall here to visit the main website.

Inquiries for custom piece series are welcomed. You may call Rachel Tucker at the studio: 707-745-1463, or email: salesandinfo@nourot.com