Our Studio History
Cuneo Furnace was founded in 1971 as Maslach Art Glass. It is one of the oldest glass studios in the United States, and remains one of the most innovative glassmaking studios in the country. We pioneered the use of dichroic glass, 16th century Italian cane work techniques and iridescent glass. Our stemware was renowned for form, function and imagination.

In our hearts, marbles and eggs we utilize intricate patterns and delicate colors that cannot be made by machine or by flameworking. All of our work is made at the furnace from molten glass.

The first major show of work from our studio was in California Design 1976. We have shown in the White House 1977, and that work was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution. Our work is included in the Corning Museum of Glass, the High Museum of Art and the Museum for Art and Design, formerly the American Craft Museum. Our work was shown in the Louvre as part of Craft Today USA 1989-1993, and is part of many more museum, private and corporate collections.

Cuneo Furnace produces the designs of Steven Maslach and is joined by glassmakers Jay Jack, Jeff Young, Gary Fitzgerald and others. The studio name was chosen to reflect the fact that it exists as a collection of talents. The Cuneo family, Steve Maslach’s Italian side, was among the first Italians to settle in San Francisco in the 1860’s, and included several important California landscape painters. Steve’s grandfather Egisto Cuneo and his brothers Rinaldo and Cyrus were all painters and prizefighters (!).

The Making of Our Hearts, Marbles and Eggs
These decorative pieces are made by first creating a patterned glass rod. This is the incredibly hard part. We utilize 16th century Italian glass techniques, latticinio, filigrana and zanfirico. Each color and strand is a separate piece of glass cane or ribbon. The design is constructed of molten glass, with layers of cane and colored glass. The pattern is cased in crystal, shaped and is drawn out to reduce it in size. The pattern rods are cut into small pieces, heated, twisted and shaped to the complete design. The process takes several days and combines heavy, hot furnace work, tricky and difficult shaping, as well as the final smoothing and polishing. All of our work is made by hand in the U.S. We are proud of our skills as fine glassmakers, and hope you enjoy our work.