Laurel Kohut & Amanda Dziedzic from HotHaus Glass Studio

Inside HotHaus Glass Studio—where Laurel Kohut and Amanda Dziedzic come together to create glass designs in a kaleidoscope of colour, breathing contemporary life into traditional glass blowing.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Martina Gemmola & Amelia Stanwix

Amanda Dziedzic and Laurel Kohut from HotHaus Glass Studio. Photo: Amelia Stanwix

‘We’re fortunate in that, while we have many similar attributes including work ethic and passion for our craft, it’s our differences that make us a strong duo.’

‘We’re heavily influenced by the material of glass itself and colour informs a lot of what we do—it moves and shapes us in our everyday lives.’

“We make designs and objects that are designed to last a lifetime. We make by hand and with heart. In a mass produced and now highly automated world, these skills are so precious—it is us who are the lucky ones.”

‘Glass blowing is a traditional skill-based art and we breathe contemporary life into the medium through form and colour.’

Colourscape Wall Sconce in Marble by HotHaus Glass Studio.

Hello Laurel & Amanda—can you introduce yourselves?

Laurel & Amanda: We are Laurel Kohut and Amanda Dziedzic, and together we run HotHaus Glass Studio, located in Heidelberg West, Victoria. Our studio is predominantly a hot glass studio, which means we run a furnace full-time and melt our own glass to blow. Glass blowing is a traditional skill-based art and we breathe contemporary life into the medium through form and colour.

Take us back to the beginning, when was the idea to join forces for HotHaus first sparked?

Before we had our own studio, we would work together, usually once a week, assisting each other and hiring time from other private studios. This could prove problematic, as you were always at the mercy of another person's timetable and traditionally, small private studios are not equipped to run production based glass blowing. If we had a large order come through, it would either take us a long time to make it or alternatively we would travel to a larger studio, either Canberra Glassworks for Laurel or JamFactory in Adelaide for Amanda, to make the work. At the height of production for Amanda, she was driving to Adelaide once every six weeks to blow back-to-back sessions for a week, then drive home to process the work. This is going to shock nobody here when I tell you this was unsustainable as a practice, especially if you throw children into the mix. 

We knew that if we wanted to take on bigger jobs we would need our own studio. We also knew exactly what we did and didn’t want in a studio after hiring so many. Essentially, we wanted to aim big, and build our dream studio.

Do you work on your designs together?

We do work collaboratively on lots of designs. As the time has gone on it seems that we work together on most jobs. One person might take the lead and have an idea to build on, the other then may have ideas to help refine the design and get it moving in the right direction. We usually work on with each others skill sets to drive the design. In the instance of HAUSLIGHTS, Amanda designed the Colourscape series and Laurel the Mellow range. It’s advantageous to have two different skillsets to draw from.

The best part about working as a team?

It’s very nice to be able to have another like-minded individual to bounce ideas off of. We do get requests for fabrication for other artists and designers, so it is very helpful to have two brains on the job to figure things out. Glass blowing has a set range of skills and techniques to work from, but quite often it requires critical thinking and thinking outside of the box to make a design work. It’s also usually done in teams of two, so in that respect we’re lucky to always have someone to work with—we can rely on each other to get the job done.

Tell us about your love for glass… when was it first realised?

For both of us, the love of glass goes back to being a craft that you use your hands for. It’s not something that is easily studied, you have to really want it to travel that path. University ignited this spark for us, but I believe it was training at the JamFactory as an associate that ignited the spark of production blowing, and placed an emphasis on a strong work ethic and vibrant community.

Where do you mainly gather inspiration for your designs?

We’re heavily influenced by the material of glass itself and colour informs a lot of what we do—it moves and shapes us in our everyday lives. This is evident in our latest endeavour, HAUSLIGHTS. We also like to take inspiration from the natural world to create the designs, but at the same time we want our designs to work. This means they must be equally as good in functionality as they are in aesthetics. Our lighting ranges are designed to bring the outside in. The Colourscape series take inspiration from the everchanging Australian skies, while the Mellow range focuses on the indoors and aims to create a warm and inviting interior.

Why is this your dream job?

We get to work for ourselves and we get to live a creative life that’s driven by our hands. So much of what we do is driven by our passion for physical making. It’s our hopes to craft a creative life that benefits not just ourselves but our families and our wider community. We make designs and objects that are designed to last a lifetime. We make by hand and with heart. In a mass produced and now highly automated world these skills are so precious—it is us who are the lucky ones.

‘We also like to take inspiration from the natural world to create the designs, but at the same time we want our designs to work. This means they must be equally as good in functionality as they are in aesthetics.’

‘We’re particularly chuffed when someone wants to purchase one of our lights, it lifts us up and keeps us in motion.’

‘For production runs, it’s most efficient to work in a team of three, and we hire an assistant to work with us.’

‘It’s nice to have the other finish what one starts. We can lean on each other when we need to.’

Laurel Kohut and Amanda Dziedzic in their studio space, located in Heidelberg West, Victoria.

What’s the process to making one of your pieces, such as a vase or lighting piece?

Each piece, whether it’s a vase or light, is made by hand. We use traditional glass blowing skills to craft and create our work. For production runs, it’s most efficient to work in a team of three, and we hire an assistant to work with us.

Firstly, there are two main ways to get coloured glass, powder, or concentrated colour in rod form. To make a piece that has an all over even colour you would use the rod. So you break off a small chunk and bring this up to temperature to pick up hot (around 520 degrees) on a collar on a blowpipe. We would have our first assistant pick this up, heat it, then pop a little bubble in it. They then take a gather of molten glass out of the furnace (at about 1120 degrees), shape it round with a wooden block or a wet paper pad and blow it up a little more.

After it has cooled a little, they will take another dip in the furnace and shape it some more. They then hand this off to me to shape it further. I like to use the wet paper as you get a good feel for the glass. You can also roll it along a steel marver to shape the glass as this will cool the glass quicker. I will put a  crease in the glass so it will break off onto the transfer rod, that’s called a punty. Laurel will bring a  punty, and we now have the piece off of the blow pipe and we can start to manipulate the opening.

During this time our assistant has started up his process again. As soon as I have finished the piece, we will trade, and they put the finished piece away in the annealer (sitting at about 545 degrees) to cool down slowly, while I’m ready to keep going with the new piece. If we are working on a HAUSLIGHT, Amanda will gaff the Colourscapes while Laurel will make the Mellows. We interchange the gaffers (lead maker) for the best results. 

How do your skillsets complement each other?

We are fortunate in that while we have many similar attributes including work ethic and passion for our craft, it’s our differences that make us a strong duo. Laurel is the more technical minded individual and will take on the role of studio technician. Amanda will lean more into the design and marketing of the studio. We each possess different strengths in the making of work, which in turn complement each other. Most recently, our Christmas baubles from 2024 involved an optic design that Amanda had been thinking about for quite some time, and not quite nailing the overall look. It was Laurel who was able to take the design and bring it to its fullest potential, achieving exactly what I was looking for. It’s nice to have the other finish what one starts. We can lean on each other when we need to.

The most rewarding part of your job is…

I think there are two main rewarding parts of our job and what we do—the first is the simple fact that another individual chooses our work for their home. It’s such a joy to have others appreciate the work we do and love it enough that they want to gift it to their loved ones or display it in their own home. We’re particularly chuffed when someone wants to purchase one of our lights, it lifts us up and keeps us in motion. The second most rewarding part of our job is that this studio allows for us to live a creative life. We will always be thankful for that.

And the most challenging…

We’re both mothers to small boys and sometimes the push and pull of work/family life is a tough act to balance. We joke that when we knock off work at HotHaus we’re going to clock on our second night shift with the family. A physically taxing job is tough enough, but pair that with energetic family life and sometimes it can be hard to juggle the two. Again, this is where working together to meet these challenges head on and schedule our day around our family commitments we are able to run a successful studio that works for us.

The most valuable piece of advice you would give to an emerging designer?

The time is now. Don’t put it off any longer if you have an idea to get out into the world, the perfect time is always right now. Just jump and do it. And try to surround yourself with likeminded individuals, and you will have a strong support network to get you through the hard times and celebrate your wins.

The ultimate dream project for you both?

HAUSLIGHTS is really in its infancy. We’re hoping to take on more commercial fit-outs with HAUSLIGHTS on a larger scale. We were fortunate to do our first office fit out in 2024 but we have big ideas for our next ones and will be looking towards hospitality for the next ones. We have the capacity to work on large scale projects as we can control our output. We would very much love to have the larger scale works on board so we can then invest in our team and grow, which then in turn strengthens our community.

What’s coming up for HotHaus in 2025?

We have an exciting exhibition launch planned for 2025 that will see HAUSLIGHTS launch a new lighting design. We also have a large scale installation on the horizon that we’re absolutely thrilled to get into. The studio continues to grow, and we have an exciting program of classes planned for 2025.