Please tell us a little about your design backgrounds and education.

Paul: I came to design as an architect. As architecture is a 'profession', it required a lengthy education followed by years of work at internships and tests for licensure.

Architecture school was a very formative experience for me. The education seemed to encompass so many things beyond the predictable  - we searched for inspiration in history, philosophy, biology, astronomy, medicine, physiology, theater, performance ... it provided a lens through which I could look at the world, and it gave me a point-of-view. It was teaching creative problem-solving, which is about as powerful a fundamental education as one could ask for.

Karen: My background is in the arts. First, I studied at the California College of the Arts as a painting major. I migrated from the painting department to the Metal Arts and Glass Department. I loved physically building things and working with my hands. After school, I moved to Seattle to be a part of the glass scene there. I wanted real-life experience and started working for artists. I mostly worked in the field of jewelry, but also for stone cutters and metal accessory artists. While in Seattle I spent many hours in hot shops observing glassblowing. I also attended Pilchuck Glass School and taught at the Pratt Fine Arts Center.

Did you ever give each other design advice when you were working in separate professions?

Paul: We would often run questions and ideas past each other, if only because our "work" was always an extension of ourselves, and so also a part of our relationship. I think I sought advice much more than Karen. Architecture is intensely collaborative by nature, and it also is an exceedingly long process when compared to making jewelry by hand - years versus days. In her own work, Karen has a natural confidence and a commitment to free experimentation. I am the one who needs to talk things through with someone. 

Karen: My education emphasized self and personal expression. I was more familiar with working just to please myself. I have the opposite problem in that it is harder for me to work collaboratively. I must work harder to see the point-of-view of the user and think through all potential issues with functionality. Paul is particularly good at caring about those concerns.

What was the first official collection or family of objects that you completed together?

Paul: We began development on the first SkLO collection in 2009 and launched sometime in 2010. Every one of those designs is still in our collections today.

How has your process of working together changed or evolved since the beginning of SkLO? Or is it fundamentally the same?

Paul: It has evolved over time. We have always had an interest in finding ways to work together, but the nature of the work always informs the process.

SkLO was the first time Karen was designing product rather than making it herself. For myself, I had to confront the intensity of the craft-aspect in glassblowing. SkLO is strangely perfectly in-between us, requiring equally our different strengths and also demanding equally from us what was not previously part of our own individual practice.

Karen: I would add that it takes a long time to develop a voice, but that I think we finally have. I think of artistic vision as a language. As you become more proficient in that language, you can express yourself more poetically. We feel that we are in a place now to build on that. 

What drew you together to SkLO as a design team - what strengths did you see that the two of you could bring to the company?

Karen: Between my time at California College of the Arts and living in Seattle with its direct influence of Pilchuck, I was exposed to glassblowers from around the world. This inspired me to incorporate glass in many forms into my jewelry. These experiences also led me to an innate understanding of the opportunities Pavel was connected to in the Czech glass tradition. My understanding of glass made for a natural fit in the partnership with Pavel and our formation of SkLO. 

Paul: In the beginning I was more just along for the ride, and have had to learn about glass and glassblowing to be an effective designer. 

Do you each lead a design and the other supports? Or do you "pass the baton" back and forth as you develop designs?

Paul: I like to say "All my good ideas are Karen's". Our styles and personalities as designers are different. Karen has 10 ideas a day; I have 10 ideas a year. We have no rules or structure to how we work. Sometimes one of us will come to the other with an idea that is very complete, but often the ideas start somewhere with one of us, and then they wind up somewhere else with both of our help. Sometimes one of us will misinterpret an idea that the other is trying to communicate, and that moment will create a spark that takes it in a better direction. 

Karen: As a metalsmith, I actually make a lot of prototypes of work myself, combining pieces of blown glass that we have from our glassworks with brass armatures that I fabricate by hand. We often say that you have to make things, you cannot produce successful designs just by drawing them, especially on a computer. My sense of making things is a big part of the process. 

Paul: Glass is the heart of what we do, so we often start with an idea about glass. Once we take that idea to the glassblowers and start blowing glass, that process inevitably informs the design in ways that are unpredictable, and we keep our process open to that. Sometimes the act of making the idea kills the idea and sometimes it takes it in a different direction. And sometimes it just works (rarely!), but you never come out of the hot shop in the same place you were when you entered with your ideas. 

It is important to note that Pavel Hanousek, our Partner and CEO, is also involved in the design process at SkLO. He is part of every design review. He is always there in the hot shop at our glassworks when we are experimenting and developing work - Pavel has a tremendous knowledge of glassblowing. In early phases, he has direct input into the designs, and in later phases he is part of deciding if and how they become products and are brought to the market. 

Karen: SkLO is very collaborative by nature. Our team includes glassblowers, designers, and managers, and we encourage and seek out their input to include in our process as designers. That makes our work different from manufacturers that hire independent designers who bring ideas to a team without understanding the team itself. 

Karen, can you describe Paul's strengths as a designer? What does he bring to a project? Do you have a favorite design that he has created?

Karen: Paul is great at self-editing. He has thought about his idea, and strips it down to the basics of what he loves. He will not add quick fixes and unthoughtful solutions to his ideas. He is really good at refining the forms and functions of a design.

The Balance 1.0 Pendant represents how Paul looks at form and refining shapes to create a relationship. The arch of form, which is counterbalanced by the scale of arms and glass, takes a lot of refinement. Paul saw the potential of interlocking the shapes, how they could create a language together. It is a design that feels like a hallmark of our look and future of our design direction. 

What about you, Paul? What are Karen's strengths and do you have a favorite among her creations?

Paul: I met Karen's work before I met Karen. Karen joined a collaborative work space I was a part of, a studio of metalworkers, woodworkers and architects. I went into the studio late one night to pick something up and no one was there. Karen was in the process of moving in and she had a bunch of her work laid out. When I saw the work, I was instantly blown away. I felt like I understood exactly what she was doing, while at the same time never having seen anything like it. 

Karen puts things together. She can assemble multiple individual shapes into beautiful forms. She is very skilled at complexity in three dimensions, at layering; she can see it in her head and respond to what is in front of her. To do that, you have to have an intuitive sense of proportion and scale. Combining color and form and texture together into beautiful compositions is not a simple act, but it's second nature to her. 

A favorite design? Easy - it's the Hold Vessel. It was one of our very first designs. I remember her drawing this shape of glass stretching from a hook on a wall over and over. It was extremely difficult to make, and Karen was told by more than one glassblower that it was not possible!

Where do you see the other growing as a designer in the future? What are they going to continue to accomplish and get stronger at?

Paul: I have always liked that design is referred to as a "practice" because the word implies dedication. At SkLO, Karen has developed a design language that is very much her own, and her confidence in her ideas gets stronger and stronger. As a SkLO designer, I think she has already produced some pieces that are legitimately important, and I think that she is hitting her stride, and that she is entering what will be a productive and exciting phase, as she is able to use the experience and knowledge she has gained over the last 15 plus years.

Karen: I would say that this is not just me, but both of us "hitting our stride." The collections would never be the same without the balance of both of our distinct backgrounds and thoughts. That is the beauty of collaboration; it might be hard, but the result is much stronger. I have a challenging time refining my vision. Paul is a great refiner, so it works. 

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Making Of 

"These glass vases double as a candlestick with the addition of a handmade brass candlecup. Tall and slender with thick bases of solid glass. Each Puddle is handblown, they have a slightly off-center organic movement to the stem, and no two are quite alike."

- Karen Gilbert, Partner & Lead Designer