Bringing the art of glass blowing and more to Providence

It’s a mesmerizing art form that started in America in the 1600s and it continues in Providence to this day.

Glass Blower Benjamin Giguere started glass blowing in 1997.

“Within ten minutes I had this overwhelming sensation like ‘This is what I wanna do. This is what I’m made to do.’ It was kind of an epiphany,” Giguere said.

He opened his studio, Gather, 12 years ago. Wanting to share his love for glass with others; he started public classes five years later.

“The most important thing we do is teach,” Giguere said. “Last year we had several thousand people come through here and have a really good interest in glass making. Whether it’s a family, whether it’s one person and thinking it’s something new or different.”

His studio is called Gather not only because it brings people together.

“It’s also when you take the blowpipe and you go into that furnace, you spin that glass up, that’s a gather,” Giguere said.

Guests have the choice between making a paperweight, ornament, drinking glass, pumpkin, a wavy bowl, or sometimes a custom piece.

“When you start a piece, you kind of have an idea of that piece, or you can just kind of go with the flow because the glass is a little bit like an entity, it has a voice,” Giguere said.

If you are interested in taking a glass-blowing class yourself, click here!