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Louis Sclafani’s exploration in glass began as an undergraduate majoring in ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York. In 1976, he spent a semester abroad studying ceramics at the Siena School of Art, Italy. On a field trip to Venice, he found himself fascinated by the glass of Venice and the Island of Murano. He secured an apprenticeship with renowned glass sculptor Loredano Rosin and Dino Rosin and returned to Venice soon after to launch deeper into the world of glass. While living in a tent on a roof top behind Loredano’s studio, he learned from the best and found his own artistic direction. This “summer” job would last three years. His experience in Venice since 1976 has given him an extended family and the pleasure of working with Davide Fuin, Pino Signoretto, Elio Quarisa and befriending Carlo Tosi Caramea, Lino and Lina Tagliapietra and the Rosin and Fuin families.
From 1980 to 1983, the Louis Sclafani Design Studio was formed in Port Chester, New York, producing for Tiffany & Company in New York. In 1985, the studio was moved to Rosendale, New York, where Louis bought and renovated a Dutch Reformed Church built in 1896. The building is known today as The Belltower.
In 1988, William Morris invited Louis to Pilchuck Glass School to work as a gaffer. For the next eight years he returned to Pilchuck as an instructor and co-instructor with Loredano Rosin and Pino Sinoretto.
In 1998, he was hired as an instructor and gaffer for the Waterford Crystal Project in Waterford, Ireland.
He participated in the Arts for the Embassy Program through the Marine Littleton Gallery in Washington D.C.
Louis’s work is included in many private and public collections such as the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum, Tampa Museum of Art, Museum of American Glass, and the Prescott Collection in Seattle.
