<b>- It was 1999 and I saw a PBS</b> <b>special about Dale Chihuly,</b> <b>and it just clicked with me.</b> <b>I was like, that's</b> <b>what I want to do,</b> <b>that's what I want to be.</b> <b>It was back in the</b> <b>day of VHS tapes,</b> <b>and so I ordered it on the phone</b> <b>and got it and I still have it.</b> <b>My name is Christian Luginger</b> <b>and I'm a glass worker</b> <b>that does flame working.</b> <b>I never thought from</b> <b>there that I would go</b> <b>to Italy to be with the people</b> <b>that taught Dale Chihuly</b> <b>from the Italians and</b> <b>then go to Seattle</b> <b>where he works and work with</b> <b>Dale Chihuly's colleagues.</b> <b>So through the years I got</b> <b>meet some of his people,</b> <b>and it was through PBS.</b> <b>There was nowhere</b> <b>in Amarillo to learn</b> <b>or find out about glass.</b> <b>I knew some people in Colorado</b> <b>and I got dropped off</b> <b>in Boulder in 1999</b> <b>and I didn't know the difference</b> <b>between furnace</b> <b>work or lamp work,</b> <b>or different types of</b> <b>glasses or anything.</b> <b>Because you couldn't</b> <b>find it in Amarillo.</b> <b>So I spent two years up there</b> <b>with the intention</b> <b>of coming back home</b> <b>and spreading the</b> <b>art with other people</b> <b>as best I can.</b> <b>Flame work means that I'm using</b> <b>the torch instead of the</b> <b>big crucible like you'll see</b> <b>in traditional glassmaking work.</b> <b>You'll have a four-foot</b> <b>iron pipe or rod</b> <b>and you dip the glass out.</b> <b>I have equipment to do that too</b> <b>because it's personal for me.</b> <b>I can turn off everything.</b> <b>I don't have to leave</b> <b>all the furnaces</b> <b>and stuff going and I</b> <b>don't have to have a team.</b> <b>That journey has taken me</b> <b>to every state, almost,</b> <b>and around the world.</b> <b>New York, LA,</b> <b>Seattle, New Orleans,</b> <b>Dallas, Houston, you</b> <b>know, Murano, outside</b> <b>of Venice in Italy.</b> <b>That's in the Adriatic Sea.</b> <b>And there's about 400 shops</b> <b>and about 2, 3,000</b> <b>people on this island</b> <b>and it's oh, been going</b> <b>about 1,000 years.</b> <b>There was people that I studied</b> <b>under, that had 650 years</b> <b>of glassmaking on both</b> <b>sides of their family,</b> <b>mother and father, and so</b> <b>it was really passed down</b> <b>through families,</b> <b>generation to generation.</b> <b>They have, what's called</b> <b>Venetian-style glass.</b> <b>And that's the techniques</b> <b>that they'd come up with</b> <b>about 1,000 years ago.</b> <b>And especially</b> <b>about 500 years ago</b> <b>with some of these</b> <b>tools are the same tools</b> <b>that they've used</b> <b>for making glass.</b> <b>And it's doing chandeliers,</b> <b>goblets, bottles,</b> <b>beautiful things that</b> <b>are artistic and creative</b> <b>but they're known for</b> <b>doing the soft glass.</b> <b>This is called hard</b> <b>glass, the Pyrex.</b> <b>Soft glass is soda-lime glass</b> <b>and it has a lower</b> <b>melting point and they had</b> <b>the resources around the island</b> <b>to melt down that sand</b> <b>and things like that.</b> <b>So the Venetian</b> <b>style that's been</b> <b>well mastered over 1,000</b> <b>years with those families.</b> <b>It was magical.</b> <b>It was, I never thought</b> <b>I'd fall in love</b> <b>with the architecture and</b> <b>just the food and the smells</b> <b>and the glass, because I was</b> <b>there for a month working.</b> <b>9 in the morning</b> <b>until 6 or 7 at night.</b> <b>And so learning the traditional</b> <b>ways of doing it was neat.</b> <b>And my family lives in</b> <b>Europe on my dad's side</b> <b>so I got to go visit</b> <b>my family in Salzburg.</b> <b>So the whole trip</b> <b>was really meaningful</b> <b>because my grandfather was</b> <b>a glass worker in Austria.</b> <b>And so I got to</b> <b>learn a lot about</b> <b>my history and just</b> <b>glass history as well.</b> <b>He did stain glass and made</b> <b>the glass for stain glass.</b> <b>To get all the materials</b> <b>you have to order them.</b> <b>I had to bring</b> <b>everything, order it,</b> <b>or make it, make</b> <b>my own tools here.</b> <b>I have homemade tools</b> <b>to the actual tools</b> <b>that I had to buy.</b> <b>The Bureau of Land Management,</b> <b>I helped them with</b> <b>these helium vials</b> <b>that had a vial with</b> <b>their H3 helium inside</b> <b>and it said, "pure</b> <b>Amarillo helium,"</b> <b>and it was for the Bureau of</b> <b>Land Management in New Mexico.</b> <b>So they ordered like 200 vials</b> <b>and I needed to,</b> <b>encase this gas inside</b> <b>of a bubble without a card</b> <b>burning on the inside of it.</b> <b>Because it had to</b> <b>have the H3 in it.</b> <b>So you know the helium</b> <b>to put inside the tube</b> <b>and have it sealed off.</b> <b>So I had to build</b> <b>a glass manifold</b> <b>where you could induct the glass</b> <b>and the gasses at the same</b> <b>time and seal them off.</b> <b>But that was for the BLM</b> <b>and then I make little,</b> <b>they're not really exciting.</b> <b>These little, they're</b> <b>like a little funnel.</b> <b>And they're for Owens</b> <b>Corning, those BBs</b> <b>that they make that are real</b> <b>small out of fiber glass.</b> <b>I'll do hundreds</b> <b>of those at a time.</b> <b>Now I took a goblet</b> <b>class back in 2001 or so.</b> <b>And I actually tried</b> <b>different types of style.</b> <b>When you're blowing</b> <b>stuff, just to try to make</b> <b>a piece it's, oh that's</b> <b>you want to try to do.</b> <b>And then when you're</b> <b>doing it for a living</b> <b>and you're making</b> <b>thousands of pieces</b> <b>over the course of decades.</b> <b>But learning to blow</b> <b>the bubbles just right</b> <b>and learning where to</b> <b>put the parts and the-</b> <b>Like this is a</b> <b>Venetian-style goblet</b> <b>because of the</b> <b>shaping and the type</b> <b>of foot and cup and everything.</b> <b>So, I got into goblets</b> <b>but for somehow</b> <b>I was not good at it at first</b> <b>but a few pieces turned</b> <b>out to where I wanted</b> <b>to keep trying it</b> <b>and so now I've just</b> <b>been studying goblets</b> <b>for many, many years now.</b> <b>And I make many different</b> <b>styles and types</b> <b>of not just goblets but</b> <b>different drinkware.</b> <b>Other people are known</b> <b>for making paper weights</b> <b>or urns or vases or whatever.</b> <b>There's so many things</b> <b>you can do with glass</b> <b>but you can spent your</b> <b>whole lifetime just</b> <b>doing certain techniques.</b> <b>I have a chandelier that I made,</b> <b>it was inspired by Dale Chihuly</b> <b>and it had very</b> <b>many parts to it.</b> <b>And very big too.</b> <b>That's what the Venetians</b> <b>did with chandeliers</b> <b>and that's something</b> <b>that I learned over there</b> <b>and looked up and</b> <b>studied in the old books</b> <b>because there'd be</b> <b>chandeliers from the 1300s</b> <b>and stuff like that.</b> <b>I'm still maturing as an artist.</b> <b>I have a lot of, a long</b> <b>way to go even though</b> <b>I've been doing it 20 years.</b> <b>It's more art because</b> <b>it's coming from</b> <b>my spirit and</b> <b>everything that I am.</b> <b>But at the same</b> <b>time, we're all atoms</b> <b>and glass is a liquid</b> <b>and it's always moving</b> <b>and has that.</b> <b>So it's kind of like</b> <b>science and alchemy.</b> <b>(light music)</b>