Meet Michael Sorenson | Glass Blower

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Sorenson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was still a young, aimless, lost and traumatized youth when I first saw a color-changing glass pipe at a Grateful Dead show in the early 90’s and I knew right then that I wanted to learn how to make that.

I made my way from Kansas to Oregon, where it was all happening, but really had no idea about how to get started or what it meant to become a functioning artist. I met my soon-to-be wife here, and she encouraged me to dive in and just start trying to learn, and we would figure it out from there.

I took the risk of buying the supplies and taught myself enough to get hired into a workshop, and from there got picked up by a couple distribution companies that resold my designs, and their designs that I produced for them, as wholesalers to retail shops; this was primarily how things were done in the day.

But, after over a decade of working hard but not making enough money to survive, I was facing the choice of giving up, or finding a new way to get out of the incredibly low-wage arrangements with these companies.

My wife had just started an Etsy page and she was getting full retail price for her art, and encouraged me to try it out. So, I kind of fell into becoming a proper business. I realized for the first time in my career that I could step out on my own, thanks to the internet, and become my own brand and switch to artist-direct sales which changed my life, and my relationship to my art. The experience of selling to actual people, and getting to see their reaction and enjoyment of my art, completely changed my reality from sacrificing my life to do the art I love to doing my best to become the best business person my buyers deserved so they could share my art with pride.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think there are a couple things that set my art apart, in my industry- one is the whimsical but affordable focus of my fruit and nature-inspired line of art pipes. I take pride in the designs that I innovated going as far back as 2002, with these simple but fun concepts.

The other thing that I think sets me apart is my integrity and interest in bringing people joy, not just making money. I strive to be an example to other burgeoning blowers that the way to succeed is to treat your buyers with respect, and honor your word.

I’m really proud of some of the important milestones that I’ve been able to attain through the support of those who love my work, such as having my pipes be featured on Today Show, in Forbes, Playboy, and being carried in Barney’s department store with a limited edition collaboration set. I feel like I broke out of the dark, dank, incense-filled lair of the smoke shops and into the world of fashion, art and decor, as I feel we well belong. Glass pipes were long called ‘degenerate art’, and I feel like I helped elevate it to just ‘art’.

Was it easy? No; it was everything but easy. This has been one of the hardest journeys I could have possibly chosen, I think. There are the murky legal aspects of glass pipes that have greatly complicated everything over the years, to varying degree; is it paraphernalia, or is it functional art? Back in 2003, that all came to matter a great deal when George Bush’s Attorney General launched ‘Operation Pipe Dreams’ and put thousands of glassblowers out of business overnight. But then, it was just this adversity that pushed me to start my simulacrum art pipe line with the creation of the Chili and Banana pipes to find a way to stay in the game when everyone was terrified to buy. And it has never paid well, even in the best days; our market pricing expectations are based more on trying to compete with the import market that’s slowly crushing the entire industry, than the actual cost of creation. I was literally coming out of payday to my distributor in debt to them for the materials it took to make the pieces.

It was so, so hard, and I almost gave up so many times, like the time in 2006 that I sliced the tendon in my thumb and realized I was putting my basic physical functioning at risk, to be in poverty. But, despite all of the hard years; nay- because of those hard years and devastating trials, I became more clever, more creative, more efficient, and more dedicated to taking smart risks to create my own niche and build a following. I’m grateful for the tough times; they make the fruits of my labor all that much sweeter.

I want the world to know that my brand is humble, I’m just one little blower and there are so many out there who can do much more amazing things than I can, but I came up from really tough beginnings with only the love of my wife and daughter to keep me going, and that together, my little lion pride kept ourselves humble through the years of trials, but I am so proud of what I have been able to create, of what my art has come to mean to people, and of the family that I did it all for.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I don’t have a lot of experience with LA, so I guess I would go with how I would show a friend around Oregon. First thing would be to take them to the best Mcmennamins historic hotels- Edgefield in Troutdale to soak in the spa pool and gorge ourselves in art and the history of the building, the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove to explore the Masonic art and catch some live music on the lawn, and the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville to take a bath in their claw foot tubs and watch for ufo’s. Then I would take them to the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta Oregon, right outside of Eugene, for the once-a-year weekend hippie/counterculture/arts and Merry Prankster festival that I consider my home of homes. And then we would come back home to my workshop, where I would amaze and bore them with the slow, meticulous work I do on the torch, and they’d leave because it’s not as fun to watch borosilicate lampworking as it is to watch soft glass gloryhole blowing, but that’s ok- I have orders due and I needed to get back to work, anyways.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost- my wife. Without her ability to dream hard, encouragement to take the plunge, and to keep going through the hard times, I would not be here today sharing my story.

Also, a shout out to my friends Crow and Randall, former owners of the Cosmic Dog, who took a chance on me back when I barely knew enough to get by in glass, and for giving me the opportunity to grow in their workshop, and for the years of mentorship and support in the years since.

And no glass pipe artist would be anywhere were it not for the ingenuity and grit of the godfather of the modern borosilicate glass pipe, Bob Snodgrass.

Website: https://humbleprideglass.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humbleprideglass

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humbleprideglass

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCqV_ZZEHYGs8-BoOe5KxydA

Other: Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HumblePrideGlass