At a Decatur studio, fiery passion creates works of art out of glass
It can be difficult for some people to find their passion, let alone make a living from it. Nate Nardi manages to do both.
Nardi owns and operates Decatur Glassblowing, an art studio that specializes in handcrafting intricate glassware.
"I love working with glass—definitely my passion, working with glass, making things out of glass," Nardi said. "It can almost be like a meditative process sometimes when you get in there and start making something like ornaments or pumpkins and get in the flow of it, listen to some music."
Nardi has done this for nearly 25 years, but his path in life wasn't always so clear.
"School was always difficult for me. Different classes I'd take, nothing would really get my interest, and then when I found glass, I just put all my energy into it, and it turned my life around in a positive way for sure in a lot of ways," he said.
Decatur Glassblowing is far from a one-person operation. Including himself, Nardi has nine full-time workers at the shop.
"It's one of the best studios I've ever worked at as far as leadership, efficiency, organization, and just overall experience to the public," glass artist Christopher Figueroa said.
The studio creates everything from Christmas trees to candy canes to snowmen with glass carrot noses, but it's the ornaments that are the true stars of the season.
"There are a lot of people that collect ornaments, and ornaments around the holiday season are a big thing. Early on, it was one of the first items I kind of learned how to make and learned how to sell to make a few dollars to kind of help pay my bills." {1:34}
The studio hosts daily classes. Anyone can get hands-on experience and create glassware to bring home.
"I enjoy teaching glass, giving people an experience here different than anything they've done anywhere else or seen, so that's a fun part of the process," he said.
Carrie Kirkland was one of the participants in a recent class.
"This was so much fun—oh my gosh. And Nate was a great teacher. It was really cool," she said. "I was a little nervous, but he really helped me walk through it and talked me through it, and yeah, it was good."
An experience spreading holiday cheer.
You can learn more about Decatur Glassblowing and sign up for a class on the shop and gallery's website.