BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 1/2/2026 |
Glassmakers have been making Venetian-style goblets for centuries. From Renaissance Italy to present-day Tacoma, groundbreaking artists have been refining their technique while passing along their hard-earned knowledge to the next generation. That wealth of creativity and know-how will be on display during Goblet Week, January 14–18, at the Museum of Glass.
The first four days will feature four visiting artists known for their new take on an old tradition: Seattle’s Paul Cunningham and Chris Schuelke; Kit Paulson, a studio artist in Penland, North Carolina; and Ryan Thompson, a full-time artist working in Glass City (Toledo, Ohio).
On the fifth and final day, the Museum of Glass’s very own Hot Shop Team will take center stage. The team, which consists of Director Ben Cobb, Nick Davis, Kristin Elliot, Gabe Feenan and Sarah Gilbert, will demonstrate goblet-making skills in real time in front of museumgoers.
“They’re typically a fast-paced demo,” Cobb says of goblets, “between twenty and thirty minutes per piece. When our audience comes in, they really get to see a well-oiled team working to make this happen. It’s a fun demo, and there’s a lot to learn there, so it has always been popular in that regard.”
Cobb, who grew up on the East Coast, has been working at the Museum of Glass for twenty-three years and is the museum’s longest-standing employee. He was hired a month before the museum opened in July 2002 and started out as a glassblower. He gradually took on more responsibilities and eventually became the Hot Shop director.
Not long after moving to the Seattle area, Cobb began visiting various local studios, many of which featured the highly technical Venetian approach to goblet making.
“Information is passed generation to generation,” he explains. “You can’t just look it up and do it. Artists are held to really high standards. In the early years of me being out here, it was always fun to watch.”
Inspired to feature goblets at the Museum of Glass, Cobb played an instrumental role in organizing Goblet Week, now in its third year. The first edition brought several members of the old guard of glassmakers to Tacoma. This year features a younger, less traditional generation of artists.
Venetian goblets can be traced to Murano, Italy, a small island in the Venetian Lagoon. According to Cobb, some artists focus solely or primarily on making glass goblets. Others use it as a warm-up exercise as part of their overall practice. The craft is far from easy.
“When we talk about goblets, in this case we’re referring to the Venetian goblet,” Cobb says. “The cup, the top of the goblet, and then the stem and the foot, how those things come together, the order, it’s super challenging. You typically work as a team of three to four assembling these pieces. You’re making one piece at a time. As you’re putting it together, you might realize the stem is too long. There can be a high rate of attrition, cracking, falling on the floor. It takes time. I enjoy the challenge of putting them together and working as a team and at the same time making something that’s fairly unique but having reverence for the history and the technical pursuit of goblet making.”
Sarah Gilbert, a member of the Hot Shop Team, appreciates the different approach each team takes.
“It is such a tradition in the glassmaking world,” she says. “There are so many different ways to make and assemble these cups. There are different proportions people use for the goblet parts, and these become almost like signatures. You can tell who has made them by what the design of the goblet is and what the avolio looks like and the proportion of the stem and foot to the cup.”
Cobb traces his style to Germany and the Black Forest tradition, which makes use of little nubs and bits of glass around the cup to give the user a good grip on the goblet. But he has given it his own twist.
“My aesthetic is more modern and clean, not really frilly,” he says. “It’s reduced down to making a well-proportioned goblet, with a slight bit of color in the bowl and the stem, a little dot of color that projects through the clear glass.”
Gilbert, too, enjoys fusing the old with the new.
“I really have such an appreciation for the traditional techniques that have been used for so long,” she says. “Those traditional designs and techniques are definitely the foundation for any modern design one might come up with, though. You really can’t have one without the other.”
Cobb and Gilbert each maintain a connection to the goblets they’ve made over the years. Cobb’s parents still have some of his earliest works, and Gilbert uses some of her handmade goblets and other glassware for special occasions.
“There is a different feel and consideration to a handmade object that you can’t get from a machine-made glass,” she says.
Programming during Goblet Week also includes an artist reception, wine tasting, and goblet sale on Saturday night, a lecture on Venetian goblets by Hot Shop emcee Walter Lieberman on Sunday, week-long raffle, and a VIP Hot Shop floor experience.
For more information on Goblet Week or to purchase tickets online, visit the Museum of Glass at https://www.museumofglass.org/goblet-week.
