MarthaStewartLivingOctober2015
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
132<br />
OCTOBER 2015<br />
Why We Love It<br />
This elegant Simon<br />
Pearce pendant lamp<br />
first caught our eye<br />
at the Woodstock Inn<br />
(in Woodstock, Vermont),<br />
where it illuminates<br />
the spa brilliantly.<br />
At 17 inches tall,<br />
it is at once dramatic<br />
and understated. Like<br />
the lamp, every glass<br />
or ceramic Simon<br />
Pearce piece is handmade,<br />
imparting it<br />
with an “organic,<br />
modern sensibility,”<br />
says James Murray,<br />
Simon Pearce’s VP of<br />
design. Woodstock<br />
pendant, $1,750, and<br />
Nantucket bowls,<br />
from $75 each,<br />
simonpearce.com.<br />
AMERICAN<br />
MADE<br />
Simon<br />
Pearce<br />
PHOTOGRAPH BY<br />
LENNART WEIBULL<br />
When glass-and-ceramics artist<br />
Simon Pearce moved his business<br />
from Ireland to the United States<br />
in 1981, he fell in love with a<br />
25,000-square-foot vacant mill<br />
on the Ottauquechee River, in<br />
Vermont. It wasn’t just the picturesque<br />
location that lured him but<br />
also its potential for hydropower.<br />
“I set up shop and quickly added<br />
a turbine to produce electricity,”<br />
says Pearce. “It made us selfsufficient<br />
and a little kinder to<br />
the planet.” The turbine powers<br />
the company’s flagship store–<br />
restaurant in Quechee—as well<br />
as, most important, its glassblowing<br />
furnaces. “Glass furnaces<br />
are usually powered by gas,<br />
but we use electricity,” he says.<br />
“It allows us to produce a very<br />
high-quality glass that has the<br />
same refractory index as crystal<br />
but without the lead.” Yet unlike<br />
special-occasion crystal, a<br />
Simon Pearce glass piece is made<br />
to be enjoyed every day.
Change language