Designers

Designers

	CHIP SCARBOROUGH		BOREK SÍPEK
	TONY EVANS		JIRÍ PACÍNEK
	IGOR MULLER		PAVEL HANOUSEK

CHIP SCARBOROUGH

In 1972 he and his family relocated from the Los Angeles area to Northern California. Here he began painting, he has worked as a steel fabricator, a machine designer, a kiln builder and has completed commissioned works of sculpture, jewelry and art installation pieces.

Since 1991 he has worked as the Chief Designer for Evans Designs, a major force in the ceramics and glass sectors of the global accessory markets.

In 1997 he started his design contributions to Fusion Z.

TONY EVANS

As the founder and president of Evans Designs, Tony has mastered ceramics, mainly the Raku process, as well as slumped glass and other mixed mediums. Intrigued with blown art glass, Tony established a glass blowing studio within Evans Design in 1996. This interest in glassblowing encouraged Tony and his partners to establish a new company, Fusion Z, specializing in unique California art glass designs which would be hand blown in Europe, mainly in the Czech Republic, by the old-world glass masters.

Both, Evans Designs and Fusion Z now enjoy having Tony not only as their president and the CEO but also as a vital part of their Design teams.

JIRÍ PACÍNEK

1987 – 1991 Jiri studied glass blowing at the Glass Blowing Apprenticeship School in the Czech Republic. He started his work experience at the Chribska Glassworks, which was founded in 1414.

In 1989, right after the Velvet Revolution, world known glass master Petr Novotny and renowned designer Borek Sipek established Ajeto, a new Art Glass Studio. Ajeto has since grown in to a reputable 5 team studio that works with the elite of European artists and designers. They were in search of young talent and Jiri Pacinek was found. He was drafted by Novotny in 1994 as an assistant – glassblower. Pacinek worked hard to master his glass blowing skills and further his artistic creativity. As a part of his professional training, he was sent to various glassworks in the Czech Republic and a three month stay in the USA. In 1996 Pacinek became the youngest Glass Master at Ajeto, possibly in the Czech Republic, managing a team of three talented glassblowers.

Pacinek’s personal works include a vast array of designs. As a junior champion in wrestling, he prefers more massive designs which he manages to present with a unique softness. He works with many famous designers from all over the world and regularly takes part in Glass Symposiums in the Czech Republic, Germany and Holland. His creativity, talent, love for the medium, his "bullish" personality and his young age are the most desirable qualities that will further his development as a Glass master and as an artist.

IGOR MULLER

Igor Muller was born in Moravia in 1969. He studied glass blowing and design at the Art Glass Institute in Zelezny Brod under Stanislav Simunek. After completing his studies, he worked in many different glassworks all over the Czech Republic. The artist that made the strongest impact on Igor during this period was Tomas Oliva from Zelezny Brod. From 1994 to 1997 Igor worked in the famous Vermont based Simon Pierce Glassworks, where he was awarded the best employee in 1996.

He founded a small art glass studio in the Czech Republic in 1997. His studios’ production is based mainly on replicas of antique art glass, as Igor collaborates with the Art-Industrial Museum in Prague.

BOREK SÍPEK

Sípek, born in 1949 in Prague, wanted to be an architect or chef and has almost become both. He is an expert architect and an excellent cook. He began by studying interior design at the school for Arts and Crafts in Prague (1964 – 68). Then moved to Hamburg where he studied architecture. He also turned his attention to theater, stage design and philosophy and forgot about architecture for a while to concentrate on theory because he wanted to be an art and design critic. After his philosophy studies in Stuttgart he was an assistant professor at the institute of Industrial Design at the Hannover University (1977-79). In 1979 he graduated from Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands on the topic ‘Relation between Architecture and Semiotics’. ( Full bio on Sipek )

PAVEL HANOUSEK

Born 1969 in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. He studied English and teaching at the Palacky University. Moving to Southern California in 1993, Pavel began a new career in real estate sales which opened the door to an appreciation for architecture and interior design. Later, he studied modern furniture design at Santa Monica City College.

Relocating with his family to Northern California in 1997 to start an art glass import business. Glass design has been a natural extension of the successful launch of Fusion Z.

He is currently the General Manager of Fusion Z, Inc., and enjoys being part of the design team of the same.