Fire & Light Originals
Bio: Our Story Fire & Light hand-poured colored glass tableware has a way of drawing the eye, enchanting the viewer with the unique play of light that filters through its rich spectrum of colors and textures. This enchantment is not simply a quality of the glass or its pigmentation, but of the very way in which it is made, the very hands that pour and press it, the beliefs and spirit that drive the people who craft the product, and the community from which it originates. Fire & Light Originals has a noteworthy heritage, formed in 1995 as a partnership between the Arcata Community Recycling Center in Humboldt County, California, and a group of local investors who wanted to develop an innovative plan for using crushed, recycled glass. Our founders decided to turn their recycled glass into a raw material, manufacturing distinctive products for sale in and out of the immediate area. After careful consideration, the group decided upon a distinctive line of colored glass dinnerware which would be created by melting crushed glass in furnaces, adding pigment, and pressing the molten glass into bowls, plates, and glasses. In December, 1995, the first glass products were poured and pressed from the Fire & Light furnaces, and the world became a bit more luminous, slightly more colorful. John and Natali McClurg purchased the company in 1999. Together with a team of 20 people, Fire & Light Originals is handcrafting the beautiful giftware and colored glass dinnerware that is now shipped to specialty stores and galleries throughout the country. The enlightened practices that gave rise to the company continue to inform everything we do. Fire & Light still strives to find new ways to incorporate recycling into our production process, like using recycled beer kegs from local microbreweries as vats to cool our ladles. Fire & Light colored glassware is a product whose history is a kind of future, where age-old craftsmanship meets innovative manufacturing, utilizing post consumer glass as a resource. But it's the beauty that will get you, the twinkle of light on the surface of a watery blue bowl, and the knowledge that we get as much happiness out of making the colored glass bowl as you will from having it on your table.
Fire & Light Originals 
I bought some tumblers as a wedding gift in May. They are highly admired and appreciated. The woman I spoke with wondered whether there could be possible F & L outlets where I live. In Grass Valley check out Yuba Blue and Tess’ Kitchen Store, both on Mill Street. In Nevada City, check out the Wooden Spoon. Each store has a good website. I shop at Yuba Blue and the Wooden Spoon, so if you need help let me know.
Cheers, Susan Dunn
Former Board Member, Arcata Community Recyling Center (Kate Krebs, Director)