Little River Hot Glass Studio Signed Egg-Shaped Topaz Colored Art Glass Paperweight. Bubble pattern throughout with facets to create optical illusions within. Signed and dated '96 on underside, meaning this piece is from very early in their production. 

Size: 4 x 4 x 5 1/4 in. 

In 1995 Michael Trimpol, a glassworker who had studied the craft at Concordia University in Montreal as well as the Sheridan College School of Craft & Design in Mississauga, Ontario moved back to his hometown of Stowe, Vermont to found the Little River HotGlass Studio. He had worked first on residential commissions and public installations, but had grown frustrated of living project-to-project, and wanted to create a space to refine his technique as well as teach it to others, having been through a similar process while working at Harbourfront Craft Studios in Toronto in the 1980s. His first attempt, Hotglass Inc. in Mississauga, had been successful, but it was here he met Monique LaJeunesse, who became his business manager and partner in 1992 and convinced him to expand the endeavor. She had received her BFA from the University of Guelph in Ontario, as well as worked at Christie’s in London, which led her to become a fine art dealer in England and Canada before her fortuitous meeting with Trimpol. They have worked together ever since, with LaJeunesse taking on more and more roles including as a glass designer herself since the 2010s.