Our Team

Ben Tullman is one of the founders of Ignite Glass Studios and is the Creative Direc­tor and Studio Manager. He first encountered glass at age 12 making glass beads. Over the past 16 years, Ben has honed his skillset studying with master glass artists such as Davide Salvadore, Karen Willenbrink-Johnson and Martin Janecky. The focus of his artwork is taking traditional techniques, pushing the limits of scale and developing new techniques through experimentation.

In his words, "I love the inherent unpredictability and mystery of glass. You have to be adaptive and flexible to work with it because it has a life of its own. Every time you work with glass it challenges you and gives you new opportunities to learn and grow."

Bio coming soon

Charles Matz is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago (BA Photojournalism '16). He discovered glass art through a chance encounter with a lamp worker in his sophomore year of college and he has pursued flame working ever since. Charlie is Ignite Glass Studios' staff photographer, studio technician and manager of the newly developed flame working shop at Ignite.

Charlie's photographic work focuses on numerous aspects of glass art, documenting the many types of glass artists and their studios, which vary greatly in size and capability. The potential for high detail in jewelry, marbles and other flame worked sculptural forms brings exciting new opportunities for Ignite and Charlie intends to continue exploring these possibilities in the foreseeable future.