Austin Littenberg Works

Austin Littenberg was born and raised in a small town outside of Buffalo New York. He was first introduced to glass at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning New York during a family trip in the summer of 2001.

Mesmerized by the material in the hot liquid state, he enrolled in a marble making class for lampworkers the following fall. One class led to another until he was flameworking in his own studio in his mother's basement at the age of 17.

In 2004, Austin studied with Emilio Santini at The Studio of the Corning Museum. This was his introduction to glass in the Venetian technique.

He was accepted into the glass program at Bowling Green State University, and moved to northwest Ohio in 2007, graduating under Scott Darlington in 2011 with his BFA in glass. After graduating, Austin worked in Toledo, OH, as a studio technician at the Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion, while also assisting many artists privately, teaching classes, and working on his own creations until 2015.

Now, Austin lives in Northern Arizona and works full-time as a hotshop glassblower, instructor, and designer at The Melting Point in beautiful Sedona, AZ.

Artist Statement

To create is the most amazing experience in the world. It is the creative process that inspires me to work and persistently attempt the impossible.

Mastery of craftsmanship and technical prowess are epitomized in the art of goblet making, and exemplified in the glass creations of the 19th century. My tenacious pursuit of perfection keeps me looking forward, and my concern for integrity keeps me studying the past.

The specificity of a goblet's shape for a particular drink has given way to the relationship between vessels, creating a compositional cocktail. The glassware becomes elegant agents of consumption and unique symbols of social status harkening back to the goblets of kings and noblemen of old. With clear inspirations from the Italian maestros of the centuries before me, as well as the American masters of the studio movement, it is my goal to mark a new age in this extensive field.