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On any given evening as the sun sets in Mountain View, a warm glow emits from a small workshop off Shoreline Boulevard. The glow is caused by Jackie Chartier, artist and owner of Hellbent Studios, as she heats up metals until they are red-hot, then works them into custom furniture and jewelry.
Chartier’s Hellbent Studios shares a space with Jon Ingbretson’s Temperchi Glass Art Studios, which is run as an artists’ co-op of sorts. Their business model is simply to be as flexible as possible in terms of how clients would like to utilize the studio space and equipment. They generally encourage all artists, from the budding to the seasoned, to come work in their studios.
“The idea is to support individual artists,” Ingbretson explained. The two share the operations of the space, which includes an indoor room with torches for glasswork, and an outdoor area with kilns and tools for metalwork.
Beginners can take individual lessons, or buddy up and learn in a group. More experienced artists can bring their own materials.
Hellbent and Temperchi tend to draw a particular crowd, “usually people who can’t afford to accrue all this equipment, or even store it,” Ingbretson said. “When you have more people that are invested in security, you are less prone to theft.” The result is “kind of a community.”
Chartier opened Hellbent seven years ago, with the intention of focusing on her own art. Meanwhile, Ingbretson was working at Sundance Art Glass in Mountain View, learning to run the business as well as practicing glass art. When Sundance moved out of the city, Ingbretson spent some time in a small studio run by Mountain View resident Don Rebsom. About a year later, he joined forces with Chartier.
“I knew how the business was run,” Ingbretson said of his time at Sundance. “It was an education in itself, and I just put it back to work.”
Diverse patrons
Anu Karwa is an R&D engineer for a medical device company by day, but on evenings and weekends she spends her time fusing glass into beautiful plates, artistic glass guitars and serving trays.
Karwa explained that the flexibility of the studio has allowed her to continue working with glass. She had tried things out at a studio in San Jose, but wasn’t ready to invest in equipment of her own.
“At that point I would’ve taken the classes and would have stopped at that,” she said. “I basically Googled ‘glass studio’ and Temperchi came up.”
Though Karwa moved from Mountain View to San Francisco earlier this year, she said this studio’s policies are still the best — for example, some studios force patrons to buy glass through them, even if they can find it cheaper elsewhere.
The studio draws younger artists as well.
“I started coming here because it wasn’t working out at my house, really,” said Jack Plank, a senior at Los Altos High School. He had been using a torch to work with glass in his back yard, but “Indoors is the way to go.”
“I met up with Jon through someone I know,” he said, adding that he couldn’t afford to rent the space, so Ingbretson helped him set up a payment plan.
“Glass has become an obsession,” Plank said. “I spend my whole day thinking about my next plan of attack.”
Gifts or retail
While artists like Karwa and Plank use the studio to craft personal items and unique gifts, others, like Rebsom — who teaches at Temperchi — have forayed into retail.
Rebsom, who works by day as a mechanic, said that despite the downturn people are still seeking him out to commission personalized gifts during the holiday season.
He displays dozens of dazzling glass beads in a box, like a cache of jewels. He said sometimes he makes beads that are so beautiful he can’t bear to sell them.
“They make good gifts and I don’t charge a lot,” he said. “When I did go online (to advertise) I couldn’t keep up” with the demand.
Chartier uses her metalworking to craft jewelry and to customize furniture. The first piece she ever had commissioned, she said, was a metal bar installation in someone’s home.
Though Hellbent has evolved beyond her expectations, Chartier said its growth has been a great benefit.
“The studio has so much potential to have more people come in,” she said, “so it’s been a blessing because there’s a lot of creativity.”
INFORMATION:
Hellbent Studios and Temperchi Glass Art Studios are both located at
973-C Linda Vista Ave., Mountain View
Classes for individuals or small groups are formed on an ongoing basis. For pricing on classes and studio space, call or e-mail the studios at:
Temperchi Glass Art Studios
(650) 215-0420
temperchi@gmail.com
Hellbent Studios
(408) 930-6791
hellbentstudios@sbcglobal.net
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