PROLOGUE FOLLOWING YOUR NOSE I think water inspires extraordinary creativity Dale Chihuly 1995 Dale Chihuly stood on a bridge in Finland holding a bright blue piece of glass bigger than a watermelon He and his expert American glassblowers had spent days working in tandem with the team at Nuutajärvi a historic Finnish glass factory Come on sweetheart he crooned to the glass One two three He heaved it into the slow-moving river where it hit with a splash and settled The glass didn’t break It floated and Dale gleefully tossed another piece over the bridge railing LEFT Collecting Cobalt Belugas from river rock Nuutajärvi Finland 1995 RIGHT Leslie Jackson and Dale Chihuly Nuutajärvi Finland 1995 1
Dale Chihuly Carnival Boat 2002 4 x 15 x 5 ft Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Coral Gables Florida installed 2006
the surrounding forest and going to the glass factory factory where he could let his imagination run free The lead glassblowers called gaffers and the crew labored to keep up with Dale’s energy He liked the results of working fast pushing a piece of glass to the limit When Dale stood next to a gaffer blow ing a hot piece of glass he would encourage him to stretch the piece longer to make a bigger bulb on the end He was right there working with us telling us what he wanted to do the gaffer recalled It was an exciting time The world calls him Magician Artist Marvel Phenomenon Entrepreneur Showman Living Legend His teams call him Maestro 3 Chihuly and hotshop team Nuutajärvi Glass Nuutajärvi Finland 1995 The glistening objects named Belugas by his team spun in the current catching and reflecting the morning sunshine Makes this river come to life Dale said He threw in more and more glass until the river was full of bobbing blue and red Belugas Dale had thrown so many off the bridge that he drafted a group of teenagers from the nearby town to help collect the Belugas and pile them into row boats They looked so stunning Dale said This was a new idea for me It’s one he still uses today The summer days were long in Finland Dale moved back and forth between hanging artworks in
