Filip Vogelpohl sits on a stool facing his workbench filled with collections of glass tubes, small handheld tools, some piles of broken glass and some burnt papers. As he notices me taking video of the burnt invoices, he says, “yeah that just happened the other day. That’s a very rare occurrence.”
Filip Vogelpohl examines a hole he just made in an olive oil bottle he is making.
Papers catching fire might be rare, but hearing glass shatter in the studio is pretty common for glass blowers, an unfortunate byproduct of spending so many hours working with such a fragile material.
A pile of broken glass on Filip’s workbench
After watching a friend blow glass in his shed, curiosity became a 26-year-long career path of working in glass. As the Boise art scene has developed and strengthened over the years, Filip has created a community around the studio space, Boise Art Glass, he runs. He has 14 employees, most of who teach glassblowing to the public. He sells glass pieces out of the studio gallery, at local markets and in stores nationwide.
An employee of Boise Art Glass teaches a student how to use tools
The curiosity that initially drew him to the craft continues to lead him to the diverse subject matter as he doesn’t feel obligated to be committed to one style. From chandeliers to memorial mementos, Filip adapts his approach to and is inspired by the projects that he takes on with commissioned work.
Various soap bottles sit on a shelf at the Capitol City Market in the Grove Plaza
He acknowledges that traveling and the medium of glass play prominent roles in how he conceives new work. Desert cacti, bull skulls, and the shapes, colors, and textures of different landscapes pique his interest in creating new sculptures.
Filip packing up at the Capitol City Market frames by blue glass horn like shapes