Glassblower / @gemmahollister
Gemma Hollister
Creating in Denim
Rails collaborates with Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program to make it easy for Gemma to shop and recycle sustainably.
As a glassblower who believes good materials deserve more than one life, she drops off her worn denim in-store and walks out with something new.
Recycle with RailsA glassblower’s uniform is jeans and a t-shirt.
Gemma Hollister nerds out on glass. “It’s a material that changes how we see the world, literally,” she says. And it’s what drew her, somewhat unexpectedly, to the hot shop. Today, Gemma runs Antolini Glass Company out of her Philadelphia studio, and you might even recognize her from her appearance on Netflix’s glassblowing competition show, Blown Away.
In the studio, probably in a pair of barrel jeans, she loads glass into the furnace at night, and by morning it reaches 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than actual lava. From there, it’s hours of shaping beautiful, intricate drinkware, tableware, vessels, and sculptural work that pushes the medium. “There’s so much unexplored terrain and so much potential to try new things with glass.”
To handle the heat, she works mostly in denim. “I wear denim, like, every day. I need my thighs covered when I’m sitting at the bench, so the hot pipe and the glass can’t burn my skin. Jeans are my choice, most of the time.” In the hot shop, denim made from cotton is as stylish as it is safe. “You need natural fibers because synthetics will melt, and natural fibers actually shield you from the radiant heat.”
Recyclability is pretty amazing. Glass is, in theory, infinitely recyclable.
There’s a phrase that Gemma comes back to often: radical responsibility. She takes it literally and knows that every crack or misshapen piece is on her. “Everything we make is a direct result of the actions we take.” The more she learns about glass and the environment, the more she understands what’s in her realm of control.
That philosophy also applies to her fashion choices. Recyclability genuinely informs how she shops, which is easy for Gemma because shopping for natural materials, like cotton, means she’s shopping sustainably. Denim that’s at least 90% cotton is what makes recycling possible. Just like with glass, the quality of the material really matters.
Gemma’s new look comes from Rails, a brand that lives up to her standard of considered craft. Their easy, relaxed looks made from natural materials are made to be worn well and worn long. The kind of clothing a maker reaches for.
Rails collaborates with Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program to make sustainable shopping seamless: drop off worn denim in-store, and walk out with something new worth breaking in. For Gemma, that feels familiar. Any burnt, torn, or worn denim that’s ready for retirement goes back through the program, where, much like molten glass returning to the furnace, it gets broken down and rebuilt into something entirely new. Natural cotton fiber, transformed. Like glassblowing, it’s a little bit of material magic.
