The year has simply FLOWN by, amiright?! It is already December, and you know what that means––Yes, yes, another #ArtGlassFinest coming at ya from our HQ in sunny San Diego! This month we got to interview the special sister dynamic duo, Amber and Olivia Hanna of Hanna's Glass Haus. Although thousands of miles apart, these two create a cohesive body of work that is showcased every day on their joint insta account @hannasglasshaus

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself: who you are, where you are from, how you got into glass.

The Hanna’s Glass Haus team consists of two sisters, Amber and Olivia Hanna. We have always been DIY-ers and crafters, but our stained glass story started in 2016 when Olivia was watching a special episode of Treehouse Masters that featured the stained glass artist, Diann Reina of Stained Glass Crafters Workbench, and the process behind making stained glass panels. That drew Olivia’s curiosity to the Tiffany-style medium and she immediately went to the local glass store in San Diego to buy supplies. After her first simple sun catcher, she was hooked and told Amber that this was our missing talent. Together, the two became self-taught and learned through trial-and-error, the help of our local glass masters at Blue Dolphin Art Glass, and YouTube of course. 6years later, a lot has changed. Both Amber and Olivia moved away from San Diego but continue to learn separately at their respective glass stores; Olivia now frequents Jimenez Glass Studios in Arcata, CA and Amber now frequents Menehune Stained Glass in Oahu, HI. Although the sisters are miles apart, they continue to practice and learn every day to hone in on the craft they love, and their customers give them the inspiration they need to go forward.

2. How long have you been working with glass in general?

Around 6 years!! We started with glass tile mosaics and quickly switched into Tiffany-style Stained Glass after watching Treehouse Masters.

3. What is the focus of your work, any inspiration behind it?

Overall, we draw inspiration from the unique colors derived from stained glass itself. We try to allow the glass to speak for itself as much as possible. Furthermore, we’ve been lucky enough to start our glass work through private commissions, allowing us to create designs we wouldn’t have originally thought of, solve new problems, and put our creativity to the test. We also draw much of our inspiration from our current surroundings as Amber lives in Oahu, Hawaii and Olivia lives in the Redwood Curtain in Eureka, CA. Both feel lucky to live in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world to enable our creativity.

4. How long have you used our products, and do you use them exclusively?

About 6 years (non-exclusively). We’ve purchased Oceanside glass from our local glass shops in San Diego, CA (Blue Dolphin Art Glass), Arcata, CA (Jimenez Glass Studios),and Oahu, HI (Menehune Stained Glass), to compliment our highly saturated style.

5. Is there anything that makes our product stand out from the rest- a reason why you choose to use it? What do you look for in glass when you are sourcing it for your next project? (ie: color, texture, quality etc.)

The boldness and unique textures of Oceanside glass is what draws us to your products. We always look for more interesting and unique glass sheets to add that extra pop in our pieces. Both Olivia and Amber are drawn to highly saturated colors, interesting textures, blends of opaque and translucent glass, and mixing complementary colors to satisfy our bold style. We also hope to get a kiln in the near future so we can utilize Oceanside’s amazing library of fusible glass.

6. Are you teaching a class or launching anything?

We are not teaching classes at the moment. We recently launched our website, hannasglasshaus.square.site and just released new pieces for the holidays including ornaments, smaller wall hangers, and sticker packs. And of course, we have medium sized sun catchers readily available on our website now!

 7. Do you have any big projects in the works or coming up? Any works you are particularly proud of?

With Christmas on the rise, we are excited to be part of our customers’ family by creating custom gifts for them. We are currently working on (4) commissions that will be given to moms, daughters, and siblings. One of those commissions literally has “mom”written in cursive and we are so excited to see the final product. We also look forward to finishing the holiday commissions so we can focus on working with other businesses to create bigger and bolder commissions. Follow us to find out what those commissions will be!