CEO Passions: Glass Blowing

Tech consultant Greg Lueck blows off steam in his glass studio.

Robbie McClaran

 

Greg Lueck's wife, Rebecca Seymour, enrolled him in a glass-blowing class in the early '90s to help take his mind off work. Lueck, now partner and COO of Centerstance, a tech consulting firm in Portland, Oregon, enjoyed the class so much, he signed up for another semester and eventually went on to study at Pilchuck Glass School, the institution founded by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. In 1999, Lueck opened Firehouse Glass, a studio in Vancouver, Washington, that provides workspace and equipment to glass blowers. Lueck, who spends one night a week at the studio working on his creations, says glass blowing serves as a welcome counterbalance to the cerebral work he does at the office. "I enjoy the physical challenge of working with glass," he says. "Once you have the ability to make it behave, there are so many things you can express with it."

Slow and steady
Lueck is shown here using a pair of jacks to open the top of a glass vase, which has been heated to just below 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The pontil rod in his left hand is anchoring the base of the vase.

Glass menagerie
One of Lueck's current projects is a series of animal miniatures, including a flying pig and an elephant, for an exhibition at North Bank Artists Gallery, a nonprofit he co-founded in Vancouver in 2003.