American artist Grant Garmezy's magic of glassblowing

From fire to form, he takes us through one of the most exciting, adrenaline-pumping crafts out there

- Rohit Kamble

Pulling up at the Rural Modern Glass Studio, in Chembur, Mumbai - ensconced in an old factory straight out of a period drama - I was greeted by Arjun Rathi, a seasoned architect and lighting designer. Rathi is also the co-founder of the studio that stands tall as a pioneer in the art-glass realm of design. He has hosted various glass artists at his studio including Jeremiah Jacobs, Evan Schauss and Matthew Piepenbrok. It first started with 'Tasbeeh', an orange glass installation with an amber glow that sucks you right in and is testimony of Rathi's own brilliance as a designer. But that's not what I was there for.

Within the studio, a tall man in a white cotton shirt and denim was working his magic around a giant furnace. Donning protective glasses, he wielded a rod bearing a searing pound of glass, effortlessly rolling it in powder before returning it to the flame, as fluidly as tossing veggies in a pan. This was Grant Garmezy, a world-renowned American contemporary glass artist, who was set to demonstrate his work to a select few.