Glass Artist: Muller Muller

Peter Muller has been consistently innovative in the contemporary glass art scene for over 25 years. Around 2010, his main medium transferred from soft glass to borosilicate. Beginning in the hot shop with furnace work in 1999 around western Massachusetts and southern Vermont, some of his earliest inspirations were Ed Branson, Dale Chihuly, Dante Marioni and Lino Tagliapietra. These greats and their accomplishments continued to push Muller forward for over a decade to hone his skills in the hot shop, learning to create a variety of aesthetics while developing his own.

Functional pieces had been on his mind since the beginning; it was during the financial crisis in ‘08 that he started to see the traditional art market transforming. Muller’s shopmate, Joe Peters, couldn’t help but notice that he was working on a “major” torch and said, “Hey, give this Herbie a try.” It was then that Muller learned how to apply the heat base the Herbie provided, which solved a lot of the problematic issues that tend to come with moving molten glass from the soft glass medium to flameworking borosilicate. One of the leading galleries at the time was Chesterfield Glass Art — owner Simon Abrahams approached Muller and said, “If you can put a downstem in that piece, I can sell it.” Coyle then taught him how to do a ring seal, and the floodgates opened: In 2010, he decided to solely focus on flameworking borosilicate glass.

Known for his stitched and patchwork characters, Muller said a lot of his inspirations came from the creations dreamed up by Tim Burton, Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey. Muller said, “I wanted to create a creepy-cute thing, something that stands alone, something that speaks without words.” And out of this line of creation, the voodoo doll aesthetic was born. Muller hopes that through his designs, “adults and children alike can effortlessly engage with the arts and be inspired by the limitless possibilities of the imagination.” Collaborations are a constant norm in his archive, and his way of fusing (pun intended) another artist’s unique aesthetics with his own is seamless.

On the technical side, Muller’s daily workhorse is a 40-millimeter torch created by the famed German company Herbert Arnold Gruppe. Muller said that his “Herbie” gives optimal core heat that allows him to apply his specific skills in melding together glass. Also integral to Muller’s process is Luken Sheafe, better known to industry folks as Salt. To this day, Muller said, “Salt is who I call when I can’t figure something out, whether it’s glass- or life- related. He’s an amazing human who has great ideas and solutions to share.”

Today you’ll find Muller working out of his secluded home-based studio in Guilford, Vermont, in the southern Green Mountains. Also a dedicated father, Muller sounded so proud when he told us he was going to enjoy the weekend with his daughter, a musician who was on her way home to perform locally at The Stone Church in Battleboro. You can check out her work at @emily.margaret.music.

Muller’s 2026 calendar is full of amazing openings and releases — he has shows planned in Arkansas, Texas, California, Chicago, Maine and the U.K. Additionally, there are always collabs, smaller group shows and events that he participates in throughout the year. Tune in to his Instagram pages to get a heads-up about where his art is being released.