Photo: Dana Klein.

PARK CITY, Utah — As you step into Daniel Bell’s world of glass, your eyes are immediately drawn to the textures and colors of his creations. He is inspired by rivers, deltas, and space. His excitement is palpable as he describes the varied landscape visible from the air over the Great Salt Lake and the meandering rivers of the Mississippi Delta.

“I’m obsessed with rivers, in the way that they occupy space, and looking at them from a very large scale or even just like a mile versus 100 miles,” explains Daniel. “It’s so beautiful to see the curves and textures. I’ve got a few series that I’m working on right now; they’re all based [on] rivers and deltas.” In his cosmic series, he has created artwork such as the Wormhole.

Similar Reads On TownLift

Daniel studied glassblowing at the Appalachian Center for Crafts and cofounded Red Flower Studios in Park City in 2016. Two years ago, the second location in Salt Lake City became fully operational and is now the main production studio. Soft-glass work tends to be a team activity, so the new facility has several annealers, one of which keeps the glass at a temperature of about 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and several others that are used for reheating during the creation process. Park City has just one annealer and is home to more of Daniel’s personal artistic work, while the Salt Lake studio is where his product lines for Red Flower Studios dominate.

Some of the most popular items are copper-ring decanters and cups, along with the lighting that they create. There’s a whole array of lighting styles, made and installed as custom chandeliers.

Due to the nature of glass, each piece is unique. One lamp series uses multiple layers of glass on its first layer; this outside layer is then cut with a diamond blade. When the second layer is blown into that first shape, it expands the cuts and creates ovals on the outside. Another technique involves adding a black second layer, with parts of it carved away once it cools. This process can take days, sometimes weeks.

When Daniel Bell isn’t creating his own designs, he teaches some of the classes the studios offer, which range from one-day events to four-course sessions. He also creates some seasonal and whimsical pieces, such as rather large mushrooms, which you may have seen at the Park City Kimball Arts Festival—where, in 2024, he happened to win the Best Local Artist award.