Micheal Nourot

Micheal Nourot was born in 1949 in Riverside, California. He was raised in the bay area and graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1972 where he studied under Ruth Tamura and Marvin Lipofsky. After graduation, he traveled to Venice, Italy and worked with many of the glass masters at Venini. He apprenticed under Checo Ongaro who later became the 1st Italian to come to America to teach. On Murano, he had the opportunity to lean many of the old world methods for blowing glass. From 1971-1972, Nourot was one of the 1st 16 students to study at the renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. As part of the group working with Pilchuck’s founder, Dale Chihuly he designed and helped build the 1st overhead structure and furnaces there. In 1973, he founded a studio in Ghiradelli Square where he developed a furnace that could melt purples, cobalts and the first of the cased enamel patterns around which the studios early work revolved. The following year, he set up his own studio where the glass formulas gathered in Venice could be melted from the raw materials providing a higher quality material. In 1974, Nourot formed a partnership with Ann Corcoran whom he married later that year. Corcoran is an accomplished glass artist in her own right and has been a real asset to the studio over the years. Nourot has created several commissioned pieces for people or events such as: Pope John Paul II Hillary Clinton Bechtel Corporation 1992 World Figure Skating Championships Rotary Clubs of America United States Air Force Nourot is known for many innovative designs over the years and today is perhaps best known for his Red Satin and Scarletnova designs seen on Kela’s website.

Lipped Vase
(Red Satin)

Fluted Vase
(Red Satin)

Fluted Vase
(Scarlet Nova)

Mini Vase
(Scarlet Nova)

Mini Vase
(Red Satin)