Trash to treasure

The Little Gallery at Bridgewater Plaza is full of fire and light - in several senses.  The gallery, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary at Smith Mountain Lake, offers a wealth of visual artwork, jewelry and distinctive handmade crafts to stoke your spirit’s fire. One of the hottest is a line of recycled glass tableware called Fire & Light, jewel-colored dishes, bowls, goblets and table accessories.
    “We first found the Fire & Light at a trade show in Philadelphia that featured only American artists,” said Carol Swain, co-owner of The Little Gallery.  “We fell in love with the yummy colors and the way the pieces glow and shine in the light. They’re not like anything else. We’ve been carrying it ever since.”
    The pieces range in price from $16 for a cereal or salad bowl, $35 for a dinner plate, and $66 for a large charger that also is beautiful as a serving platter. Collectors often start with one or two pieces and then come back for more, said Swain, recalling one couple who bought a set of plates for their home in Florida. They loved them so much, they came back and bought a second set for their home on Smith Mountain Lake.  
    The story of how Fire & Light came to be begins more than 30 years ago when the small, eco-conscious town of Arcata, Calif., decided to become one of the first communities in the nation to recycle glass. Arcata’s citizens were strongly behind the effort, and soon mountains of empty glass bottles and jars were collected and shipped by the truckload 300 miles south to San Francisco for processing.  
    Clearly, shipping the glass that distance didn’t make ecological sense. In 1995, a group of Arcata investors gathered to discuss ways to reuse the crushed glass locally while, at the same time, creating jobs for the community. The brainstorming sessions led to an innovative idea: they would develop a line of colored dinnerware using the recycled glass. The investors formed a partnership with the Arcata Community Recycling Center, and Fire & Light was born. The first products were fired, poured and pressed in December 1995.
    Unfortunately, the course of this worthy endeavor did not run smoothly. The company was under-financed and owners found themselves short of cash just a few months after beginning operations. They turned to John McClurg, a certified public accountant, for help. McClurg admired the beautiful product and the worthy cause and agreed to provide free business consulting services to Fire & Light.
    McClurg’s advice made a difference, and Fire & Light thrived - for a time. When the partners hit another bump in the road in 1999, they came to McClurg again. This time, they asked him to take over the business and run it.
    “I loved the product and the business concept,” said McClurg. “My wife, Natali, and I talked it over, and decided I would quit my job, we would buy the business and run it full time.”
    The McClurgs brought business expertise to the enterprise, but John admits he knew nothing about glass manufacturing or the needs of the vendors. He learned quickly, and the couple expanded the Fire & Light product line to include about 45 different items, each hand made and unique.  
    Almost every aspect of the business involves recycling. Of course, there’s the primary product made from crushed, recycled bottles. Then, there’s the metal floor in the factory recycled from an old saw mill, kegs from local microbreweries used as water tubs to cool the pouring ladles, and the 1,000 pounds of cardboard that neighboring businesses would normally throw away that Fire & Light shreds to use as packing material for shipping.
    In addition to running the business, McClurg’s creative juices are constantly flowing as he experiments with new shapes and colors. One of his new introductions is the “splash bowl,” a whimisical piece that makes a stunning presentation for a dinner party first course, as a nut dish or as display of art.  He got the idea when he was experimenting with capturing the texture of stone on glass by pouring the molten material over a rock. He liked the random splash effect, and a new product line was born, including splash bowls, votive candleholders and vases.   
    The Fire & Light business embodies three of McClurg’s passions: recycling; designing beautiful, useful objects; and perhaps most important, providing local employment opportunities. McClurg tells the story of the time he thanked an employee for working nights and extra hours during a crunch time.
    “The man looked me in the eye and thanked me for the job,” said McClurg, adding with emotion, “It gives me chills just to tell you that.”