Dominic Labino

Dominick Labino (1910-1987) was an internationally known scientist, inventor, artist and master craftsman in glass. Labino's artworks in glass are in the permanent collections of more than 100 museums throughout the world. Labino held over 60 glass-oriented patents in the United States. Labino is best known for his role with his friend Harvey Littleton, in 1962 for the first glassblowing workshop held on the grounds of the Toledo Museum of Art. Thus set the stage for the birth of the Studio Glass Movement. 

In 1963 Labino set up his own glass studio on his farm near Grand Rapids, Ohio. He designed glass-blowing and finishing tools; built his own furnaces and annealing ovens; and began freehand glass blowing with molten glass. Through his research and development of new technologies, like the fusing of colors, he provided artists with the methods and tools to create glass as art in their own studios.

"At the time that (studio glassworking) began, not one of us involved was aware of the speed with which it would spread. Not only nationally, but internationally."  -Dominick Labino