Uptown Glassworks is adding to its business model to improve its bottom line and to give glass artists a place to create their works.
It’s another sign of the downtown icon’s efforts to keep its doors open on Main Avenue during the economic downtown affecting many businesses in Renton.
What owner Paul Sullivan labels the first phase is the creation of an artists’ cooperative, in which artists will buy time to use the shop’s hot shop to create their works and contribute to the cost of raw materials.
It costs about $3,500 month in natural gas to keep the shop’s two furnaces running.
Customers will perhaps notice the second phase the most. Sullivan will expand his products beyond glass works to include jewelry, ceramics, paintings, photography and other higher-end arts and crafts in his 4,000-square-foot gallery.
“There are beautiful and unique creations out there,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan has felt this economic pinch for more than a year. He went public went public last fall about his search for a Christmas angel, who would become a financial backer or owner in the business. The alternative was to close the shop on Christmas Day.
He found one, but, after months of negotiations, he was unable to strike a final deal. Since then, he has been looking for new ways to operate the shop, which he bought in early 2007.
Sullivan is working out the details, but the artists will pay a fee to use the shop. So far, he has 12 artists committed to the cooperative; he hopes to find another six, which would make for a “successful cooperative,” he said.
Those 12 come from all over the region and include some of the shop’s advanced glass-blowing students.
The goal is to launch his new venture, which he is calling the Uptown Art Enterprises, during the Downtown Renton Art Walk on Aug. 28.
Uptown Glassworks
WHERE: 230 Main Ave. S., Renton
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.
CONTACT: Paul Sullivan, 425-228-1849 or info@uptownglassworks.com about obtaining arts and crafts space at the gallery.
