Ventura, CA, glass artist John Gerletti has had an important, successful career developing exquisite "stories" in the melted glass shards rolled into his hand-blown glass vases, plates, and vessels.

"Our goal is to make art daily," he says. "We have an original approach to our contemporary art, by expressing our art on the surface as well as manipulating the glass itself, at 2000 degrees. We tell an abstract story around the piece. It's magical and illusive. It may even contain a mid-summer's night dream. We have styles that we recreate, but each piece is unique."