This piece is an excerpt from our 2026 Summer Digital Catalog. View the entire catalog for more features like this.
The Discipline of Glassblowing
“You have to get every step right to make what you’re imagining. You make the move and if you
get it wrong, you’ve blown it. But it teaches you all these lessons—it really doesn’t matter.
Just start again."
Sambar’s work begins in his West Coast studio, where equipment and heat dictate the pace. With a furnace that runs at 2,100 degrees, 365 days a year, the process is as much about physical endurance as it is about design.
The Deliberate Mistake
In traditional glassblowing, success is often measured by perfect symmetry and balance. However, Sambar believes that true mastery allows an artist to step beyond those boundaries. He teaches his students that one must understand the "right" way to work specifically so they can deviate from it with purpose.
"Understand how glassblowing works and why, so that you can deliberately do the wrong thing.
If you put in the hours, you might learn enough so that you can throw everything you've learned
out the window."
This philosophy led to the creation of the Loop Lamp. In glassblowing, you are taught to keep the glass rotationally symmetric—on center and constantly moving to stay even. Sambar decided to throw the glass off-center. What would have been a failed attempt for most became a signature form. "It takes all the weight of that thin white bubble and pulls it off to the side," explains Sambar. “This asymmetry creates a soft, organic shape that a perfect process never could have produced”.
The Value of the Heirloom
In a world flooded with mass-produced items, Sambar views handmade glass as a way to preserve both a community and a standard of quality that lasts generations. He sees his work not just as a product, but as a connection to a much older era of making.
“I think there’s a need for high-quality home goods, collectible pieces and heirloom items. There will always be a need for that. You get something special when you pull principles and elements from an older era and bring them into a new design."
For Sambar, the goal is to create pieces people are proud to display and eventually pass on. It’s a shift away from convenience and back toward objects that carry the story of the person who made them.
