a San Diego art  studio

Melinda Cogen-Friedman.

 

Melinda is an Art Center College of Design, graduate in commercial photography, a profession she pursued in Los Angeles.

 

After taking classes in surface pattern design at Otis Art Institute, she turned her talents to textile design.

 

She moved with glass artist husband Charles Friedman to Seattle where she has been a product designer for the last 20 years working with ceramics, wood, metal, plastic and glass. for companies including Costco, Ross, LLBean catalogue, Grandinroad, Country Door, Swiss Colony, Harry & David and many of the 7th Avenue group of Catalogs. 

 

Melinda’s glassblowing husband piqued her interest in flame-work and she began producing handmade glass beads using lamp working techniques on a small torch. With these beads she discovered the joy of creating jewelry and wearable art. 

 

Lamp work glass beads are made with a small torch that has a dual fuel flame. Glass is melted and wrapped around a small mandrel to create the hole in the bead. The bead is shaped and decorated in the flame which is about 2000°, then annealed overnight, which means the temperature is slowly brought down to room temperature.  

  

"Now I have a way to indulge my passion for colors and jewelry. Making jewelry from my beads lets me see how they can combine with other jewelry elements.”