Cal Breed
BFA, Ohio State University, 1997

In 1972, Cal Breed was born to an artist and an engineer. This combination of the expressive and the critical laid the framework for his life. After almost finishing a degree in Marine Biology, Cal felt the need to be expressive with his hands and he began to study the arts. In 1994 Cal found glass—first in assembling stained glass windows and, finally, in glassblowing.

Cal spent six months apprenticing under Cam Langley, who was at one time one of the South’s few hot glass artists. From there Cal went to Haystack to study with Paul Cunningham who pushed Cal to finish his BFA degree at Ohio State University under Ruth King. Upon graduation from Ohio State in 1997, Cal did some graduate work with Jack Wax at Illinois State University which opened many doors to the possibilities with glass as an art medium. He, also, continued honing design and technical skills by studying with Dante Marioni, Dick Marquis, Lino Tagliapietra, and Benjamin Moore at both The Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School.

In 2000, Cal began working to open his own studio, building equipment and designing a unique glass line. Two years later, Orbix Hot Glass opened its furnace. Orbix now creates a Studio Series and a Signature Series that adhere to Cal’s original purpose of marrying the engineer and artist within him.