Jennifer Thomas and Jeff Rossi are Studio Sgobbare. In 1984 Jennifer graduated from Skidmore College where she studied painting and sculpture and Jeff finished his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied sculpture and glass. We later met in Providence, RI and were married. After a walk around the block (the long way) we built a glass furnace and founded Studio Sgobbare in 1996.

Sgobbare in idiomatic Italian means to "work like hell". And we'll both tell you, that it's no joke!! We work very hard but we really enjoy what it is we do, which is blow glass for table top, interior appointment and commission at our hand built studio in Pawtucket, RI, home of Slater's Mill, seat of the American Industrial Revolution, and the head waters of lovely Narragansett Bay.

We built our studio from scratch, all the welding, brick, mortar and refractory work, etc. was done by us, everything except for the pipe work, which we had done by a mechanical contractor. We passed a mechanical inspection and fired up. We have a gas fired 200 lb. melt furnace, to which our annealers are attached. We pay for the heat once, but use it twice!

The waste heat from the furnace is channeled through baffles and doors to the annealing chambers where the glass is slowly and carefully cooled down. It is a very old tech set up, but it worked well enough for the romans and it works great for us. We also have 3 glory holes for different sized work, a color oven and a great dog named Frank, who has the best job, which is, being our dog.

We blow glass because more than anything, we love color and glass is an incredible vehicle for clear, brilliant color. You can practically taste it, spicey, sweet, rich, aromatic, candy for the eye as it were. In the process of blowing we add texture, contour and it becomes tactile as well as visual. We are constantly fascinated, challenged and sometimes brought to what seems like the brink of our wits by this incredible material and process. But most of all, we blow glass because it's FUN, when we make a piece, PRESTO, CHANGE-O, VOILA, something is where nothing once was! It's a kind of magic that makes us feel good. If and when somebody else likes what we make, that makes us feel even better. And all that helps us to keep on keepin' on!

All of our glass is dishwasher safe but we do recommend hand washing as they are hand made items and not flintstone jelly jar glasses. Our wares will bear heat if you like your tea in a glass, please pre-warm them under hot tap water first. But they are not Ovenproof and above all else DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT place them in the microwave, unless of course, you're strange and that's how you get your kicks. So, thanks for your purchase and your interest, we hope you enjoy using our glass as much as we enjoyed making it!! Ciao.

Cordial Set • Vodka Set • Decanter Set • Pitcher Set
Rocks • Tumblers • Pilsner Glasses • Goblets • Tall Cut Glasses • Martini Glasses
Glass Flowers • Cut Glass Vase         Glass of the Month • Home

Site Credits

P.O. Box 40756
Providence, RI 02940
401.935.2943 or 401.228.8645
E-mail us