Nearly every corner of Julie Burton's Silver Lake studio is filled with sparkling glass jewels (some real, some symbolic) and whimsical ceramic figures inspired by mid-century modern design.
Elegant hand-blown glass vases sit next to ceramic pots on warm cherry shelves. Sparkly teardrop earrings dangle from metal tins filled with refreshing Japanese beads. In the kitchen, hand-carved ceramic birds, whales, elephants, and owls peer out from the counters, surrounded by lidded planters and heavy candlesticks that feel good in the hand. Nature appears everywhere in her studio: rocks in glass jars, pieces of driftwood, and small “forests” she makes from glass, brass, and walnut.
“I'm a full-time drug-free hallucinator,” Burton jokes about her wide range of work. “If I'm not doing something, I'm always looking around and thinking what to do next.”
Glass necklaces by Julie Burton for Verre Modern, from $120.
(Julie Burton)
A metal desk he found on Craigslist anchors the 546-square-foot accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, where he works. Architect Peter Kim designed the space, attached to Burton's garage in Silver Lake, to be private and light-filled, with 10-foot ceilings, skylights and glass doors that open to a large patio with seating.
Her workspace shows how productive she is. Long, colorful glass tubes fill buckets on the floor and on his desk. Tools are scattered throughout the studio, including a plumber's torch for melting glass, stripping pots, and a dental tool he uses to stamp his logo, VM, short for Verre Modern, into his ceramics.
At 56, the Los Angeles native took an unusual path to becoming an artist. After graduating with a degree in political science from UC Berkeley, he worked at Amoeba in San Francisco and then joined the fashion brand Esprit. “I was supposed to be a data entry person,” she says, “but I taught myself Quark and became a pattern maker.”
In this series, we highlight independent makers and artists, from glass blowers to fiber artists, creating original products in and around Los Angeles.
She admits she didn't really know what she was doing. “I have a habit of taking jobs and changing them up a bit. I've been lucky to be able to shape the jobs I've had.”
At one point, she considered becoming a professor of legal ethics, so, as the daughter of two lawyers, she applied to law school. “That would be an interesting job today,” he adds with a dry sense of humor.
“Built-in desks, cabinets, shelving, and a functional kitchen with counter seating provide a light-filled artist's studio that can easily be converted into a spacious living space,” says architect Peter Kim of the ADU.
Burton melts glass for jewelry with a plumbing torch.
He had always loved art, especially glass blowing, but the classes were too expensive. On a whim, he also applied to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, or RISD. When he didn't get into his top law schools, he chose RISD. There he specialized in illustration and took a six-week course on working glass in winter that changed his life.
“I immediately thought, 'This is the best. I want to do this,'” he says. “I didn't think, 'Can I make a living blowing glass?'” When she realized she didn't want to create art glass, her professor encouraged her to leave and “save $90,000 in tuition for something I wasn't 100% behind on.”
Hand-blown glass bottles, from $125.
(Julie Burton)
Glass flowers on walnut, from $38.
(Julie Burton)
When a friend from RISD introduced her to a glassblower in Chattanooga who had blown glass on an oil rig, Burton moved to Tennessee and worked for the former merchant marine, making what she describes as “funky glass.”
He later moved to New York and worked at the nonprofit Urban Glass in Brooklyn. To pay off his student loans, he also waited tables and tutored children for the PSAT and SAT.
After a friend gave her a quick five-minute lesson in lampworking (a type of glass work that uses a blowtorch or lamp to melt glass), she became so excited that she decided to start a jewelry business, even though she says she “didn't know anything about jewelry.”
The glass necklaces, starting at $140, come in 135 different colors.
After a brutal winter in New York and as her parents grew older, she decided to return to Los Angeles in 2003. In Los Angeles she met her husband, had a son who is about to turn 15, and continued to grow her Verre Modern jewelry line. Over time, his work expanded to include glass and brass mobiles and wall hangings, which are now sold in independent shops and museum gift shops across the country.
Designer Carol Young has displayed Burton jewelry in her Undesigned showroom in Los Feliz for 20 years. Young says Burton “transforms humble glass into modern heirlooms: simple, elegant, quietly gorgeous pieces for women who don't need the obviousness of gemstones or status jewelry. My everyday pair is her clear glass Valenti earrings, which somehow go with absolutely everything.”
Burton describes her ceramic animals as “mid-century modern meets Japanese wabi-sabi.”
(Julie Burton)
When Burton took a pottery class in 2015, she began making vases, animals and decor, often building and hand-carving her unique vessels while watching TV in her living room. As with most things, she says, she made the pottery her own.
“When I was blowing urban glass, I didn't use traditional Italian techniques because I was working for a guy on a mountain in Tennessee,” he says. “I didn't know anything about jewelry, but a five-minute lesson on working with lamps paved the way for me. If someone who makes ceramics for a living saw me doing what I do with clay, they'd say that's not the right way to do it.”
Burton worked in a studio on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles for 20 years before she and her husband added the ADU in 2023. “It was built with the idea that one day we could live in the studio or let a family member live there,” she says, adding with a laugh, “It's embarrassingly nice as a working studio. That's definitely not what my downtown studio looked like.”
The Burton kitchen features Inax Japanese ceramic tiles and raw cherry cabinets.
Cutouts in the fence around his yard, just outside the ADU, are lined with his pottery, sand dollars, driftwood and rocks from Burton's travels. “I'm inspired by nature,” he says.
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom ADU was built on an unused side yard of the large corner lot, so the two-car garage could still be used for storage and parking. Architect Kim says, “While converting a garage into an ADU can add living space or rental income, they are often small, require a lot of structural work, and eliminate storage space.” He adds, “Building an ADU in unused space allows you to keep the garage and, like with Julie's ADU, creates a spacious and private front yard connected to her study and living room.”
Burton looks back on her unique career path and is grateful to be able to choose her own direction. When she studied illustration at RISD, she remembers being surrounded by talented cartoonists. “I wasn't the best illustrator and I remember the teacher telling me that half of illustrations are ideas. That was inspiring.”
That idea continues to inspire his art, even after many years.
“I've tried welding, woodworking, painting, drawing, glass blowing, lamp working, and working with clay,” he says of working with his hands. “Give me a means and I will try.”
Burton works on a faceted bowl in his Los Feliz living room.
(Ariana Drehsler / for The Times)
