How Looma Studios Transforms Fused Glass Into Stunning Creations

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Meet The Maker

Looma Studios

Years ago, artists and designer Romy Randev tagged along when his wife took a fused glass class, not quite knowing what fused glass was. Fast forward to today, and he now runs Looma Studios in Lafayette, California, creating his signature interactive LED light panels as well as head-turning glass panels and custom glass tables. Here, we chat with Randev about his current work and what he has coming up.

You’re launching a new generation of your interactive wall panels. What’s different about these pieces? The first one is made out of bamboo plywood and had just one large pane of glass. I was experimenting with the handmade, the machine made and electronics–putting it all into one piece. That piece ended up going to the Bellevue Arts Museum. The next one had a bunch of small tiles. This third version will be made of metal; the glass will be frosted so more even light comes out of it, and people can customize the color palette of the glass.

Tell us about your new table designs. I was initially doing a lot of striped designs. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with more organic compositions, collaborating with a woodworker in Ottawa, Christopher Solar, who’s making the bases.

How did you begin making pieces for the government of your native Canada? There’s a team of interior designers who are refreshing embassies, consulates and ambassadors’ residences all over the world, and Christopher makes furniture for them. He shared a photo of my work on Instagram and it evolved from there. They’ve been placing orders for custom pieces–mostly tables and some wall panels.

On the horizon. I really like combining the handcrafted aspect with some of these digital tools. For my next project, I want to experiment with combining water-jet cutting metal with water-jet cutting glass and then setting both together to create a whole new way of doing stained glass.

PHOTO: DAVID BISHOP