SkLO

SkLO is modern Czech glass. Dating back over seven hundred years, Czech glassblowing is one of the oldest and greatest of the world’s historic craft traditions, known for the remarkable quality and purity of its glass, and the skill of the craftspeople who produce it. The founders of SkLO, Pavel Hanousek, Karen Gilbert, and Paul Pavlak discovered each other living in the same small town in Northern California. Karen Gilbert and Paul Pavlak (an artist and architect, respectively) met Hanousek, a native Czech with years of experience working with the Czech glassblowing tradition. We decided together to pursue a new vision of Czech glass: an American design studio that brings a modern aesthetic to a historic craft tradition. As designers, expressing this idea of craft is the core of our work. Subtle differences, even imperfections, identify the fact that SkLO is hand made. SkLO is dedicated to working with the Czech glass tradition. That means we work with glassmasters in the Czech Republic to produce our designs, but more importantly, as designers we seek to express what is unique and specific to the Czech tradition. Our work is always uniquely Czech, yet entirely SkLO. Our design philosophy is rooted in materiality and process. We believe in revealing the underlying nature of the materials and the way things are made, resulting in details that make each piece unique. We strive for subtlety, restraint, and beauty.