Ludwig Ostfeld (www.ludwigostfeld.com) is a glass artist and woodworker in East Lyme, Conn. He became enamored of glass work as a college student, when he worked in a stained glass factory. A few years later, he started to learn how to make his own glass, and over the years he has studied with some of the finest instructors in the craft. His interest in woodworking began with a job in construction and grew when he discovered an attraction to the Japanese aesthetic, and Japanese tools. He enjoys using Japanese tools to create furniture in the early American style. “When we craft things we are bringing not just our accumulated skill to the object but also our accumulate aesthetic—all the beautiful things that have influenced how we perceive beauty,” he says. “The difference between glass and wood is, glass is very spontaneous but if you make a mistake it is hard to correct. The best glass instructors in the world are my friends Boyd and Lisa Sugiki. Boyd says ‘It’s not what you can make, it’s what you can fix’ (since glass blowing is a constant series of corrections).”
