In his new studio, Larry Zapf creates post-Helene.
Photo by Colby Rabon
When Larry Zapf moved his glassblowing studio and shop from Horseshoe to Brevard earlier this year, he had hopes of expanding his business in larger quarters practically across the street from his home in Cedar Mountain, where both his studio and gallery could be accommodated under one roof.
That was in mid September. Then came Helene.
“We had very little store or shop damage resulting from the storm,” Zapf says. “Our problem is that people are not out shopping and there are no tourists coming to the area. We depend on both to run our business.”
His distinctive and colorful glass vases, bowls, and garden ornaments have been popular items since he set up the business after retiring from a career in real estate in the Asheville area. He’d first been attracted to glassblowing years earlier in New York, after a friend invited him to a weekend glassblowing workshop. He was immediately captivated. The learning curve for glassblowing is a notoriously challenging one, especially working with the intense, near 2,100 degrees of heat produced by the furnaces.
Photo by Colby Rabon
He began refining his technique by observing master glassblowers like Bill Gudenrath, an advisor at Corning Museum of Glass and legendary among his fellow crafters for his historical knowledge of the form.
“I never took a lesson from Bill,” Zapf explains, “but just watching him was like watching a professional dancer work on stage. He moved so fluently, so precisely, and with so much talent, that he continues to be an inspiration to me in pursuing this craft.”
Once Zapf had moved to the North Carolina mountains in the late 1990s, studies followed at Penland School of Craft and at Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. (A cutting-edge facility fueled by methane gas from an old landfill, the Green Energy Park is home to blacksmiths, potters, and glass artists.)
“I had the opportunity to meet quite a few fellow glassblowers, and whenever I had a problem creating something, I was able to ask a fellow artist for assistance,” Zapf remembers. “Glassblowers are a very giving group of people.”
Photo by Colby Rabon
Three decades on, Zapf has himself become an inspiration to the students who attend his workshops and classes. “Teaching accounts for over 60 percent of our business,” Zapf points out, “so now I’m working to improve my teaching techniques and the scope of what we’re teaching.”
Students learn to create basic forms like oil lamps, pumpkins, and bowls as a way to familiarize themselves with basic glassblowing procedures before advancing to more complex forms like the beautifully colored tree lamps, vases, nature-themed sculptures and, just in time for the holiday season, glass Christmas-tree ornaments.
“We’re hoping that by December there might be an upward shift in business,” Zapf says. “Once people know I’m here, we should be able to survive this very serious downturn in our economy and the devastation caused by the recent hurricane. This is not an easy time.”
Larry Zapf, Woodhaven Glass Studio and Gallery, 9293 Greenville Hwy. (Route 276), Brevard, open Thursday through Saturday, 11am-5pm. Classes are scheduled at 1 or 3pm; call 828-777-5770 or see woodhavenglass.com for availability and more details.