Myles Rasmussen blowing glass in studio. Photo Jesse Laufer
Tucked in an alley just off Commercial and Venables sits an inconspicuous example of one of Vancouver鈥檚 fast commercializing arts scenes鈥攇lassblowing.
Myles Rasmussen, known as Mimzadellic, took over the garage-turned-glass studio he shares with four other glassblowers this year. They call their studio Mainframe, and produce whats known as 鈥渄esigner glass鈥� in cannabis circles鈥攊ntricately designed high-end pipes, bubblers, and bongs.
Rasmussen started blowing glass while he was living north of Toronto. He moved to 麻豆传媒映画four years ago and his career has been heating up since. At 25 years old he鈥檚 already been nominated for awards and had pieces sell for $2,000. He primarily uses the internet to self market and sell his products, although some pieces do make their way into stores.
Despite his commercial and critical success, he still considers himself and the Mainframe artists as children in the developing industry.
鈥淲e鈥檙e up and coming but we鈥檙e still the young guys,鈥� he said, noting that there鈥檚 artists who have been producing locally producing pieces for two decades.
Tye Lakusta, an employee at Puff Pipes on Granville, has seen a steady progression in high end paraphernalia sales over the last two years. In addition to artistic value, he cites perceived risk mitigation as another factor pushing cannabis smokers to buy local as opposed to imported hardware.
鈥淐hina glass has an unfortunate use of paint in their products. If things are painted and then heat is being brought to them, it鈥檚 gonna cause health issues further down the road,鈥� explains Lakusta. 鈥淚n any of the bigger city centres people really take pride in artistic value. Even if it鈥檚 not a custom piece, you can go into a shop and some of the stuff speaks to you from the sheer creativity that artists put into it鈥�.
Although some independent pieces have sold for over $10,000, there鈥檚 plenty of locally made hardware available for under $100.
For his part, Rasmussen advises anyone seeking to learn more about the 麻豆传媒映画scene simply to look at what鈥檚 around. According to Lakusta, close to 80 per-cent of products at Puff are locally made, or at least 鈥渇air trade鈥�. Another good place to start could be at local glass shop Boro and Beyond this Saturday. Starting at 7 p.m. they鈥檙e hosting a show highlighting work by JonK, Hippo and, Stratisphere, all of whom are highly regarded by both Rasmussen and Lakusta.
Boro and Beyond can be found at 1340 W 4th Ave. in Vancouver.
Mimzo鈥檚 pipes on display. Photo Jesse Laufer
