Our Mission

The Living Edge Foundation is a nonprofit organization inspired by the transformative power of glass as a medium for creativity, education, and human connection. With hubs in Portland, Oregon and the Highlands of Scotland, our mission is to bring together generations and foster innovation through programs that elevate artistic exploration and community exchange.

What We Do

We actively seek partnerships—with artists, designers, cultural institutions, and educators—to co-create opportunities for learning, collaboration, and cross-cultural dialogue.

Rooted yet adaptable, The Living Edge Foundation embraces a flexible and evolving model—positioned to grow, responding to emerging needs, and expanding programming across the fields of glass, art, and education. Through hands-on experiences and meaningful collaborations, our programs center on three core pillars:

Creative Exploration

We provide access to high-quality facilities, skilled instructors, and immersive experiences at the intersection of art and science. Our workshops, exhibitions, and publications spark curiosity, encourage experimentation, and nurture creative growth across all stages of life.

Community-Building

Our work connects a wide network of artists, educators, intergenerational communities, and partner organizations. Through inclusive programs, events, and collaborative partnerships, we create space for dialogue, shared learning, and collective transformation.

Cultural Exchange

With hubs in Portland, Oregon and the Highlands of Scotland, we design initiatives that bridge local and global perspectives. From public engagements and residencies to creative development opportunities and international tours, our programs foster connection across cultures and geographies.

Where it all began…

The Living Edge Foundation has its roots in a small glass factory started over 50 years ago by art school graduates driven by curiosity and the passion to solve technical challenges hindering themselves and their artist-friends.

After years of balancing commercial with non-commercials activities such as teaching, exhibiting, and promoting the medium of glass, we are forming The Living Edge Foundation to better serve broader creative communities and age groups within the US and abroad.

We believe in the transformative power of glass

Why Glass

Forged by fire yet fragile, glass holds contradictions—clarity and complexity, resilience and delicacy. Always becoming, suspended between liquid and solid, glass offers a living metaphor for transformation.

It is a material that teaches us to slow down and pay attention. It refracts not only light but perspective, inviting us to reimagine how we see, think, and connect—with each other, with our environment, and across generations.

At The Living Edge Foundation, glass is more than a medium—it’s a lens through which we bridge past and future, nature and technology, tradition and innovation. It provides the foundation for our programs, which bring together artists, scientists, educators, and communities to explore what’s possible at the intersection of craft, learning, and imagination.

Through an adaptable partner program model, we use glass to spark dialogue, deepen understanding, and create space for discovery across backgrounds, disciplines, and time.