Written by Olivia Smith
If you ever walk down Broad Street on a weekend afternoon, you may be lucky to spot Chris Mosey blowing glass at his Downtown Chattanooga studio.
Mosey is the owner and artist of Ignis Glass Studio located at 401 Broad Street. Mosey’s open-concept studio allows tourists and locals passing by to witness a unique art form full of fire, color, and technique.
Mosey studied ceramics at the Appalachian Center for Crafts, an arts program through Tennessee Tech University, in Cookeville, Tennessee where he found his love for glass blowing during an elective he needed to graduate.
“Glass and ceramics are very similar, thats why is was so easy to go from being a ceramic artist to a glass blower,” Mosey said. “It’s all on an axis, you are always spinning something on an axis using triple force and gravity to make it do what you want it to do.”
In 2001, Mosey opened his first studio in Chattanooga where he worked primarily as a wholesale business selling vases, bowls, and other glass products. He worked at art festivals all around the country, including Four Bridges Art Festival.
“Every Christmas we would do ornaments and it was very popular, but only around Christmas,” Mosey said. “[After] I took my business class I made a whole business around the blow-your-own-glass-experience.”
In 2008, Mosey moved to Ignis Glass downtown where he shifted his business to teaching people how to blow their own glass ornaments.
As you walk through the door of Ignis Glass you are greeted by a large furnace heated to 2000 degrees and filled with molten glass, colored dust fills shelves, and an assortment of glass made by the artist himself.
Mosey’s classes start at $50 and go up depending on how many designs you choose. While Mosey primarily focuses on group classes, solo glassblowers are welcome too.
While Mosey offers many different types of glass to learn how to make, he sometimes helps loved ones create important pieces of art from family members’ ashes.
“The ash pieces are very emotional pieces for a lot of people,” Mosey said, “they bring in their loved ones, or an animal that was very close to them. They are very meaningful in an emotional way with an interpersonal connection with the client.”
Ignis Glass Studio is open Friday through Sunday for both walk-ins and scheduled. During the week, Mosley opens his gallery by appointment only.
To learn more about Ignis and the artist visit ignisglass.com.
Meet the Storyteller
Olivia Smith is a senior communication major currently working as a staff feature writer and photographer for the University Echo. Smith is passionate about feature writing and excels in finding extraordinary stories within ordinary people’s lives. Smith is driven, hard-working, and energetic. She hopes to continue sharing amazing stories through journalism after graduation. To contact her, please reach out to qpq455@mocs.utc.edu