Made in Chico in downtown also carries Orient and Flume pieces.Ĭontact reporter Laura Urseny at 896-7756. While some love to collect, others love to give locally made gifts, and the Orient and Flume team works to meet most budgets, with pieces starting at less than $100 and topping out at several thousand. Sillars describes the glass-blowing process as “mesmerizing” for someone who hasn’t seen it. Like other studios, visitors are welcome to see the artists at work, with the best time to stop by around 10 a.m. Newer too are a line of art glass urns after Newton-Bracewell Chico Funeral Home approached the studio. Recognizable pieces, like paperweights and iridescent vases in the Tiffany style are long standing in the Orient and Flume collection. New too are the sculptural pieces, like sea lions and orcas, with sleek lines. In the vase collection, the newer line called “The Woods” is characterized by tree and forest scenes through the four seasons. In addition, the studio helped develop what was called the “California style” of art glass which is “rooted in nature” with shapes and images of animals and flowers.Īrt glass from many other studios is created in forms or shapes, rather than what Sillars calls “understandable art.” What also sets Orient and Flume apart is that the glass is truly unique and made at the studio following a recipe like no other art glass. Orient & Flume Art Glass iridescent veils paperweight.
Orient & Flume 1978 purple flowers on vines pulled-feather surface design paperweight. The not-so-perfect to an artist’s eye, called “seconds,” can not be found anywhere else. Orient & Flume 1976 cream and gold egg-shaped surface design paperweight. New designs early in their lives and “experiments” are only available at the Park Avenue gallery. Love of the customer - from ardent collector to first timer - means that locals get special access that others don’t. “Without the local collectors there’s no way we could have continued.” “We feel very fortunate that the local community enjoys our work and have been very supportive,” Sillars said. Hit like other art businesses throughout the country, Orient and Flume is building back, working to restore its wholesale business by adding more galleries, but very happy with its retail site on Park Avenue and its website business.Įven before the economy tanked, the Orient and Flume team counted its blessings locally. Today, that number is about 25 galleries that carry its work. Orient and Flume have had dealings with roughly 400 galleries in the wholesale business, Davis said.
Sillars shifted from ceramics at Chico State University to metal and sculpting to glass blowing, then found a home at Orient and Flume.Īs the economy inches back, the artists would like to step up production and perhaps add to their team eventually.ĭavis said she has seen the number of art galleries diminish as the economy struggled over the past few years. Orient & Flume produces fine art glass for the collector from beautifully intricate paperweights and vases to the simple elegance of fruit and animal.
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