2003 Lundberg Studios Art Glass Globe Paperweight. Beautiful blue, white, and red coloring throughout. Signed and dated on base, and numbered 052915. 

Size: 4 x 4 x 4 in. 

In 1972 a man named James Glenn Lundberg opened a small glassworks studio in the coastal town of Davenport, California. Born in 1949 in Chicago, he had been raised in Carpinteria and graduated from Santa Barbara High School, where he was first immersed in art. He originally studied ceramics at California State University in San Jose in the late 1960s, but by chance attended a lecture by Dr. Herbert Sanders about Arabian smoke lustres, which led him to shift majors to glassmaking and study directly under the doctor for a time, perfecting techniques from antiquity using modern materials. His graduate tour had taken him to Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain, and along the way he met other students who would soon join him in his quest to create their own studio, particularly David Salazar. Lundberg Studios quickly gained a reputation as one of the finest hand-blown facilities in California, especially after they became the first to successfully reproduce the colors and patterns of the highly acclaimed Tiffany Studios. Their earliest pieces were paperweights, due in part to support and patronage by a dealer named L. H. Selman who helped them shop their iridescent wares outside the state and eventually to a global market. Mark Cantor helped Lundberg build four melting furnaces, five glory holes, and two torchworking areas, as well as a complete grinding setup and lamp shop that was regularly producing six days a week by the end of their first year. In the late 1970s Steven Lundberg came to train under his brother, and by the mid-80s he had become a master himself. Salazar’s brother Danial and Chris Buzzini joined in 1974, increasing their ability to decorate and create more unique and delicate pontil work. In 1976 the team was rounded out by James and George Shaw, who worked primarily as cutters and polishers, with their friend Chris Bushman coming to work for one summer which eventually became a full-time position. In the 1980s a massive collection of their work had been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, as well as Gumps and the Nature Company, and President Ronald Reagan ordered 250 of their World Weight Earth Globe pieces in 1989, which were given to visiting dignitaries around the world. By the early 1990s the company was universally lauded for their pieces in both innovative and classical styles, but tragically James Lundberg was killed when struck by a speeding car while riding his bicycle on Highway 1 on February 28th, 1992. The company faced uncertainty for the next two years, but eventually Steven, Danial, James’ wife Rebecca, and a new artist named Samuel Sturgeon took charge of the company, which is still producing new designs and motifs to this day.