STOKED PRESENTS: CERTO

Andrew Certo is an absolute powerhouse and visionary. Since last year's epic “A Time For Passion” show featuring Certo, 2stroke, Takao and Disk we were hungry for more. After an incubation period, continuing pandemic and sauna building we are super stoked to be hosting Andrew Certo for the second year in a row. Please join us Saturday, May 1st 2021 for Stoked Presents: Certo. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 22nd 2021 at 7:10PM EST only at StokedCT.com.

Certo x Disk Slop Cup - Sold At "A Time For Passion" In 2019

Certo has always been a creative and artistic person - In 2007 his parents signed him up for his first weekend session at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. It was an incredible experience and introduction to glass art where he worked in a hot shop, kiln shop, flame shop and cold shop. Certo took to the flameworking shop like a moth and returned to take another flameworking class to further his skills. Around this time Certo got his first job as a dishwasher and started saving money to build his own studio in his parent’s basement. He bought equipment, set it up and started teaching himself to make pipes - pipe making is not allowed at the Pittsburgh Glass Center although he did attempt to secretly make a soft glass pipe in the center that broke into a ton of pieces. That broken soft glass pipe still sits in a shoebox somewhere in his parents home to this day. Once his friends found out he set up his own studio, they started coming by to hangout and buy pipes, meanwhile, his parents upstairs had no idea.  

After graduating high school Certo was accepted into the prestigious Tyler School Of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia where he earned his BFA. Certo credits art school for his open and experimental approach, which ultimately helped him grow as an artist. This time had a lot of impact on his ability to develop a relationship with glass separate from market forces and trying to make sales. While in school Certo became inspired by the playful work of Matt Escuchke and began focusing on creating large oversized cartoon objects in glass such as screwdrivers and other household items. During this project he created his first glass spray bottle - a solid object that sat on his shelf until graduation. 

Living in Philadelphia after college Certo found himself slowly making his way into the pipe scene and started volunteering at Krushmore. He was sweeping floors and helping out in any way he could, once bench space opened up he finally started melting in the legendary Philadelphia studio. After some time playing with form, Certo was sitting at home and he picked up the spray bottle he made back in school. “I thought to myself, it's handheld - it's almost predesigned, it's already a good design and object. I thought if I made it functional it could become iconic, like pop art.” Full of excitement, Certo immediately went into the studio and created his first functional spray bottle. His shopmate Germ loved the design and was stoked for him! Germ shared it on his Instagram since Certo was new to the platform and only had a small following of friends and classmates. Soon Certo was gaining followers and orders which opened the gateway for him to become a full time pipe maker and created his path to self employment. Certo’s first collaboration was with Bandhu Dunham, glass artist and author of Contemporary Lampworking book series. Bandhu recommended adding a water element coming out of it, as if it was actually spraying. 

After collaborating with Dunham, these small elements began to grow. Certo became extremely fascinated by design inspired by motion. He says “naturally, glass wants to be like water - the way it moves and behaves. You can manipulate into a state that looks like it's in motion because it was when you were melting it. There's a million ways water can look, there's no name for these states but imagery is everything. I spent a lot of time with my photographer purchasing glass items at goodwill and using colored dyes and milk to photograph the movement of water for my personal study.” Most of his process involves an exercise in imagery, “I doodle; If I like it, I draw it bigger. Then I like to make it 3-D out of glass or wood. It’s important to incubate these ideas with no inhibitions. The difficult part becomes working fast enough when the creative energy is flowing through you. I have worked on wall installations that have taken me two months to complete so discipline is everything - something else I credit to my time in art school.”

In 2015, one year after graduating and working in Philadelphia Certo was offered to help start the company, Dream Labs, and relocated to Denver. Working closely with Joe Peters he helped build the framework for the company. However, after about six months Certo realized that it began to strain his relationship with glass and that working for others was not for him after all. Certo decided to leave Dream Labs to continue focusing on his solo works and build his own studio. 

Certo "10 Moments" - First Place Competition Piece From Pipe Classic 14

The Portal had an open bench so Certo moved in and began working on his own home studio. Certo is a bit of an equipment junkie, he has a large assortment of tools, torches and machinery. He says “I spend a lot of time maintaining it all but it's important for me to have access to anything I may need when I am inspired. My home studio is focused on my pattern making, something I like to do in private while my space at The Portal is where I do the majority of my flameworking.”

Certos pattern work is something that he keeps very close to himself. He gives out information, but not the whole process. Certo describes his pattern work as “part of it is milli, but it's more focused on solid color which makes it different from murrine. Pattern can be anything; stripes, twists, dot work. Yes, milli is an aspect of that but milli ultimately is a cross section of glass canes that are chopped...I dabble” Certo practices hot shop techniques when it comes to using color, he prefers blow outs over coil potting and enjoys hand selecting color in person so he can inspect the quality of the material physically. Certo uses unique layering techniques that are hard to replicate that create his signature looks and patterns. 

We absolutely cannot wait to share what Certo has been working on, we hope you can join us on Saturday, May 1st for this epic solo show! VIP tickets go on sale Thursday, April 22nd 2021 at 7:10PM EST on our website StokedCT.com.

VIP DETAILS:

Ticket Cost: $250

VIP Ticket Includes:

• 100% of your ticket cost will be applied to any show purchase
• Private Instagram Account and VIP Catalog Access
• Ticket holders will have the opportunity to attend either virtually via our VIP Instagram or in-store

Buying Process:

• Buying order will be drawn LIVE during the show
• All buyers names will go into the SAME hat and buying will go in order according to which the names are pulled
• We accept all major credit cards
• All payments must be completed on our website StokedCT.com
• If payment is not received within 24 hours of the show your item will be released to the public and your ticket cost will be forfeited 
• In-store payment plans will be available after VIP concludes

Expected Collaborations With:

• Boro Benjamin
• Swank Glass
• Disk
• JFell
• Ryno
• F-Time
• Justin Carter
• DH GATE
• Sam Lyons

We hope you can join us! Please send us a message if you have any questions!