Earthtone Color Study: From Coffee to Glass
Some of the best ideas start with something simple. For the earthtone color study, the original inspiration was a familiar ritual: coffee. The concept began with a warm coffee brown paired with the soft, creamy tone of latte foam—a palette that felt unmistakably warm, cozy and a slight nod to autumn.
A color study is one of the many ways an artist can explore the possibilities within their medium. It’s a practice of working with the same colors or formula while pushing the imagination to see how differently they can be applied—creating something that feels familiar, yet is uniquely its own. In painting, for example, an artist might return to the same scene again and again, experimenting with different colors and light. Or they might use the same palette repeatedly, changing only the scene. Each version becomes an exploration of what happens when one element stays constant while another changes. In glass, that exploration takes on a life of its own. You can begin with a very specific vision, but the glass always gets a say in the final result.
“The color application changes these pieces drastically,” explains Brent Rogers, a glassblower with the R&D team. “ All three of the votives utilize the same two colors, but the properties of the glass redefine each one.” The colors can behave differently depending on how they are layered, shaped and transformed by the glass itself—making each piece part of a larger study in color, form and possibility. There was experimentation, of course, but sometimes the right combination comes together when you least expect it. “We did get lucky with the combination on the first day,” Rogers says.
The real test came when the pieces emerged from the annealer. Seeing the finished glass for the first time is a moment of discovery—a chance to see how the colors ultimately behaved once the heat and process had done their work. “When they came out of the annealer and we met with Lee, we knew we had the right colors.” And that's the beauty of a color study: it isn't simply about choosing a color. It's about seeing what happens when that color is explored, transformed and brought to life. Two colors, three different ways.
Inspired by the warmth of coffee, the colors of fall and the unpredictable beauty of handblown glass, earthtone color study is a small exploration of how much possibility can exist within just two colors.
