Artifact of the Month - Orient & Flume Bowl

1982.8.12 Museum Purchase

Written by Amanda Kramp, Assistant Curator of Collections and Exhibits

This beautiful glass bowl, crafted by Orient & Flume artisans in Chico, California, in June 1982, stole the hearts of our guests, who voted it the next Artifact of the Month. We knew we had to include it in the poll while exploring the Collection for future selections and its feather-like pattern and peacock iridescence immediately caught our eye.

When the bowl was originally acquired by the Redding Museum and Art Center (now Turtle Bay) for a “special exhibit of glass by the internationally noted studio,” according to a press release from that time, Orient & Flume had only been in business for ten years. Even so, it had already earned a reputation as one of California’s most renowned commercial art glass studios, with pieces in collections across the country, including the Corning Museum of Glass and the Met.

A beautiful glass bowl, crafted by Orient & Flume artisans in Chico, California, in June 1982

The studio was part of a revival of early 20th-century glassmaking techniques that began in the 1960s, relying on team specialization to produce unique, hand-crafted, high quality pieces. They also drew inspiration from historic traditions, like Louis Comfort Tiffany’s favrile glass, using metallic oxides and tin chloride to create that signature iridescent shimmer. This particular bowl features a “combed feather” technique—a nod to ancient Phoenician glassmaking. Orient & Flume continues to thrive in Chico today, still producing fine art glass for collectors around the world.

Experience its shimmer in person at Turtle Bay Museum. While you’re here, don’t miss Fungus and Fire: A Glass Mushroom Experience, featuring the dramatic, vibrantly colored mushrooms of John Gibbons.