Heven Is Home for a Couple of Glassblowing Neophytes

At the start of the pandemic, when many of us were still figuring out which pastimes to take up, Breanna Box and Peter Dupont were ready to embark on a new creative endeavor to supplement their modeling careers: glassblowing. "We both are kind of bad at having hobbies because everything we do that's a hobby quickly turns into something we spend a lot of time on," says Dupont, Cero Magazine's sustainability consultant, referring to his pursuit of furniture design and Box's second (and third) career as an actress and musician. "We take stuff quite seriously."

Their foray into glassblowing resulted in Heven, the couple's line of hand-blown designs. "The glassware came along at the start of this whole homeware and furniture idea with something that was more intimate and quick," Dupont recalls, "and we could create something with our own hands because a lot of furniture, you have to work with factories." While the duo initially tried other mediums like ceramics before quickly moving on, the intensity and focus required by glassblowing provided an experience unlike anything else. "It's the thrill of it," Box elaborates, acknowledging the physical risk of working with hot materials. "It's having to focus, it's the visual aspect of it. Hot glass is so beautiful to look at and it was something neither of us have done."

The Heven collection features carafes, vases, and now goblets—many adorned with devil horns, an ironic touch added by Box—and the couple cites a range of influences from Ettore Sottsass to "bong boys," Box's colloquial term for craftsmen like Salt Glass who create highly ornate glass pipes. Part of the joy of Heven comes from learning as they go along. "It's definitely something we threw ourselves into making it a business before we actually knew exactly what we were doing," Dupont says.

"We are very open about it," Box adds, noting that the personal nature of the brand has resonated with customers. "I think that’s why people like it, because they know it's literally made from our hands and there are not many of them." They can embrace that attitude because they also understand how nuanced the craft of glassblowing can be. "It's a medium where people work for like thirty, forty years and still keep learning because there are so many techniques, so many small tricks," Dupont explains. That may be what's most appealing about Heven: It's personal and unique, each piece an expression of where these creators are in their journey. "I've learned in every endeavor, which is a thread through, to not strive for perfection because you'll never get it," Box says. "We're our own worst critics, so just let it go and watch it grow."

For more information, please visit Instagram.com/Home.in.Heven. Heven designs will be on view Thursday to Saturday, August 5 to 7, as part of the group show "Big Plates" at the Bank House Historic Barn, 46 White Lands Road, Stone Ridge, New York.