ROCKET GLASS WORKS
Sam Schumacher grew up in the Bay Area and went to Boston where he picked up the art practice of glassblowing. Now he is the co-director of The Crucible, an educational non-profit art school in Oakland. He is also the founder of Rocket Glass Works and has been working closely with Peter on the various hand-blown, custom-designed glassware at Palette. He most graciously gave me a tour of his workplace and sat down to answer my questions. The video of our interview is linked below, and here is a quick summary of our hour-long conversation that day.
CONVERSATION WITH
SAM SCHUMACHER
[05-03-2022 15:00:00]
Sam has been working with Peter since they collaborated on a cookbook shoot where Sam made large wine bottles for Peter to stuff raw chicken, carrots, and celery into. Then Sam was approached with the proposition of creating a line of customized and individually hand-crafted glassware, which slowly evolved into making absinthe fountains for the bar as well. These cups and fountains are both stand-alone artworks but also have great functionality. Sam says that his pieces have an element of aliveness to them, having motion embedded and implied.
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Both Sam and Peter are advocates for environmental sustainability and ethical sourcing and use, both in art and in food. This is the main reason that all the broken or chipped glass from the restaurant is given back to Sam to re-shape. As Sam says: glass is infinitely recyclable.
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More of this conversation will be shared via video.