Kids Design Glass: The First Generation

October 4, 2025 - Ongoing

Exhibition Overview

The Kids Design Glass program was inspired by the 2004 Museum of Glass exhibition Murano: Glass from the Olnik Spanu Collection, which celebrated the relationship between designers and master glassblowers. This designer-maker relationship begged the question: Can children be designers of fine art, too? 

In the 22 years since, we have determined that the answer to that question is unequivocally yes.

The program originated as “Kids Design Vessels,” where the children were asked to design functional glass pieces with accompanying artist statements. This went predictably and delightfully awry. Children drew characters, monsters, imaginary beings, and all kinds of things the adult brain cannot fathom! Children write fanciful descriptions and wild tales about their art, not artist statements. Thus, the Kids Design Glass program was born.

The program gives children ages twelve and under the opportunity to create drawings and submit them to the Museum’s Hot Shop Team. Periodically, the Team selects individual designs to be brought to life as glass sculptures, to the child designer’s exact specifications. The Team creates two sculptures of each design – one for the designer to keep and one for the Museum’s Permanent Collection.

Kids Design Glass: The First Generation features 50 of the first Kids Design Glass sculptures. Some of these critters and curiosities are over two decades old, but they look like they haven’t aged a day! These pieces have been delighting visitors to the Museum and in collections around the world since the program’s inception, and we believe everyone can use a reminder of what an unbridled and unadulterated imagination can do. Beyond its unique appearance, a Kids Design Glass piece embraces the symbiotic relationship between designer and glassblower in a new way. Without a technical understanding of the constraints of glass as a medium, these children challenge the Hot Shop Team (and guest artists) to explore new kinds of precision – that which requires the abandonment of glassblowing norms.

The result is rewarding for designer, glassblower, and viewer, and has given the Museum decades of creative inspiration and unforgettable experiences. The pieces in Kids Design Glass: The First Generation represent the beginning of the Museum’s ongoing project to spark the imaginations and creativity of children and adults alike. This exhibition invites visitors to access their own inner child and step into a world where anything is possible.

Designed by Massima Glass (age 10), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Untitled, 2006. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 13 1/2 x 7 x 6 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Geoff Isles. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

 

Featured Images

 

Image Credits

  1. Designed by Macay Fischer (age 8), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Banana Bam!, 2007. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 7 x 15 1/2 x 6 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Republic Parking Northwest, Inc. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  2. Designed by Emily Gouveia (age 9), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Dino Fish, 2005. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 10 x 16 x 6 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Helen Berg. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  3. Designed by Andrea Garcia (age 10), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Mixed up flamy!, 2007. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 10 1/2 x 22 x 5 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass in partnership with Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Mikal and Lynn Thomsen. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  4. Designed by Blake W. Toney (age 10), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team and Dante Marioni (American, born 1964). The Octupusy, 2008. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 15 x 10 3/4 x 10 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Janet and Mike Halvorson. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  5. Designed by Ashley Teifke (age 5), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Bob the Box Head, 20008. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 19 x 15 x 3 3/8 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Click! Cable TV. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  6. Designed by Trenton Anderson (age 9 1/2), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. My-Mceequ, 2008. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 18 1/2 x 5 x 5 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington in partnership with Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Jim and Patty Morton. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.

  7. Designed by Lucie Saether (age 11), made by Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. Chickenpox, 2005. Blown and hot-sculpted glass with applied bits; 15 1/2 x 13 x 8 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington. Sponsored by Russell Investments. Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis.