Studio & Artists
Hot Island Glass is a Maui family glass studio that has been making beautiful objects from molten glass since 1992. Our mission is to be a welcoming, casual, open workshop where visitors and locals can come hang out and watch artists at work. It’s a place where your questions are welcome, and we are happy to share how glass art is actually made. You will not be accosted by high pressure sales people in our studio, and we will be honest and straightforward with you. Our studio is also a place where several other Hawaii glass artists create and show their work, collaborate with each other, and connect with the art lovers who come to our studio.
Hot Island Glass was originally founded in 1992 by Bill and Sally Worcester, glass artists who were active in the early American Studio Glass movement in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Their joy for glasswork and their spirit of generosity live on in our studio. Their nephew, Chris Richards, and his friend Chris Lowry, worked with Bill and Sally from the studio’s inception and later took over the studio in 2000. Chris and Chris worked together as business partners until 2020, when Chris Richards become the sole owner when Chris Lowry left to pursue glasswork in Denmark with his wife, the Danish glass artist Marianne Lowry.
Today Chris Richards and his assistants Patrick and Josh make much of the work that you see in the studio and on our website. Some days you might even find one of his 5 kids helping Chris in the studio. In our gallery you will also find work by glass artists Jupiter Nielsen, Summer Jean, Evan Jenkins, Mike Mortara, Jim Graper, Mike Worcester, Patrick Olson and ceramics by Hillary Richards.
Come by and say hi!
Christopher Richards
Originally from the Seattle area, Chris Richards is one of Maui’s foremost glassblowers. His work can be found in fine art galleries and private collections all over the world.
Coming from a glassblowing family, Chris Richards made his first piece of glass at the age of eight. His professional career began in 1992 under the tutelage of his aunt and uncle, Sally and Bill Worcester of Kula, Maui. He went on to apprentice in the studios of several well-known Seattle artists in the mid- '90's, before returning to Maui to buy the Worcester's Makawao studio and gallery, Hot Island Glass, in 2000 with his friend and business partner Chris Lowry.
One of the most prolific glass blowers on Maui, Chris works in his studio five days a week, year-round. His ethereal, lifelike jellyfish sculptures are a favorite of visitors to the studio, as well as his life-sized pinapples and many-hued vases, bowls, and platters. As his vision has evolved over the years, he has consistently adhered to high standards of quality and design. "The integrity of the piece is very important to me", he states. "If it’s not quite right, I do it again. Glass endures; it's worth the trouble."
When he's not in the studio, Chris loves to spend time at home with his wife Hillary and their five children, working on their land where he grows tropical fruits and non-organic vegetables and makes useful things out of junk.