Recycled Glass

Originally from Argentina, Carolina Portillo has made Boston her home for over two decades. She hasn’t been able to master saying, “Pahk the cah”, but she’s gonna keep trying!
Carolina has been doing crafts ever since she can remember, experimenting with different mediums until she discovered glass fusing in the early 2000’s. She was first inspired and influenced by her culture, as well as the many amazing artists she met while doing research in Paraguay. Many were working trying to save endangered techniques and designs, but didn’t have the means for sophisticated tools. Even still, they created extraordinary pieces with limited resources available. This became a cornerstone of her approach, trying to create colorful and pleasing crafts with recycled materials. She also finds she gets a lot of her ideas from walking around the neighborhood on recycling day!
All her pieces are handmade from recycled glass that comes from broken windows and other items that would otherwise be discarded. The glass is cut, colored, and fired in a kiln to fuse. She says that’s where the magic happens! When the glass fuses, the colors become vibrant, the glass bubbles, and each design becomes a unique creation, due to the "vitro-fusion" process. She loves that each piece, each firing, and each event is different, making each day a unique challenge and experience.