There’s a massive, luminous, and quietly mysterious crystal egg in the center of Habitat Gallery. Crafted by glass artist Christopher Ries, it weighs nearly a thousand pounds, and houses something you don’t notice at first.
Step closer. Shift your angle. Suddenly, inside the clear mass, a tiny earth shimmers into view, refracted and floating—waiting to be discovered.
“That piece is called Life,” says Aaron Schey, co-owner of Habitat with his brother Corey Hampson. “It’s the largest one the artist ever made. And no one who sees it walks away the same.”
Aaron knows well the effect glass can have on humans. Known by many in the art world as “Mr. Glass,” Aaron’s spent the last decade helping people fall in love with a medium that’s, pardon the pun, red-hot. “Glass is one of the most impressive materials,” he says. “It’s hot, sharp, intimidating—and it’s everything. You can paint on it, fuse it, blow it, cast it. There’s no limit.”
Aaron’s helped lead Habitat into the digital age, pioneering virtual exhibitions long before the pandemic made them necessary. From livestream fairs to Zoom studio tours, Aaron’s background in computer science and advertising helped transform the gallery’s reach. “We were already setting up a home studio,” he explains. “When COVID hit, we just hit ‘go.’”
One of the first shows he launched during that time: Not Grandma’s Glass—a digital showcase spotlighting genre-pushing artists who might not have made it onto traditional gallery walls. It worked. Art sold. Minds opened.
But Aaron’s not out to replace the gallery experience.
“You can see something online,” he says, “but when something catches your eye, what’s the next step? How do you get with it?”
That’s the soul of get glass, a concept he’s gently ushering into the ecosystem—a philosophy that anyone, on any budget, deserves to experience glass art up close. “It’s not until you’re standing next to glass that you feel what it really is,” Aaron observes.
To meet Aaron Schey at an art fair is to meet Mr. Glass himself, right down to a lapel pin of Samuel L. Jackson’s film character…and a top hat.
“It’s a beacon,” Aaron says of the hat. “It says, ‘Ask me something.’” The gallery world can be intimidating, especially for those new to collecting, but Aaron does his best to mitigate that feeling. “We’re just regular people,” he adds. “We answer questions, we want you to take photos.”
Whether it's a first-time visitor or a seasoned collector with a designer in tow, everyone gets the same invitation: Look. Linger. Ask. The glass speaks for itself—and when it does, it changes people.
“The best way to buy art,” Aaron explains, “is to fall in love with it. You see something, you feel something…and suddenly, you can’t live without it.” He’s watched it happen hundreds of times: someone standing in front of a piece, quiet at first, then visibly moved, then a proud owner.
Still, these days most people don’t start with awe. They start with a screen. Aaron gets it—so his online exhibit is breathtaking too, with hundreds of works from artists across the globe. But for Aaron, the screen is just the beginning.
“We bring the pieces to people’s homes if they’re nearby,” he says. “Because once you see it in person—how it glistens, how it feels—you’re usually blown away.”
The digital gallery might spark intrigue. The physical piece ignites a bond between piece and collector.
And sometimes, when conditions are just right, glass does something it was born to do: it bends light into wonder.
Aaron recalls a show in the Hamptons. He and his brother had brought a large freestanding cube by artist John Cume. As the sculpture slowly rotated, natural light poured through its facets, scattering miniature rainbows across the entire room.
“They were everywhere,” he says. “Little pin-sized spectrums dancing across the walls, the floors, people’s shirts. No one could look away. That’s what glass does—it doesn’t just reflect light. It transforms it.”
That’s the magic of Habitat, too. What begins as interest becomes a lifelong dialogue between light, form, and feeling.
Making the art of glass crystal-clear: the Glass 53 exhibition
If you’ve ever been curious about glass art but weren’t sure where to begin, Glass 53 is your doorway.
Now in its 53rd year, this signature exhibition from Habitat Gallery features over 400 original works from 32 countries, and spans the full spectrum of glass artistry: blown, cast, fused, lamp-worked, cold-worked, and everything in between.
“There’s nothing like it,” says Aaron Schey, co-owner of Habitat. “You’ll see the entire lineage—from 1960s pioneers to today’s emerging voices.”
Highlights include:
- Lino Tagliapietra’s largest showing at Habitat in decades
- Lucy Lyons’ meditative bronze-glass figures
- A towering, 88-inch pillar sculpture from Japan’s Toshiyuki Toshiuki
- The return of Christopher Ries’s iconic crystal egg, Life
Visitors can also vote for their favorite piece in the Public’s Choice Award, or thrill to the curators’ selected Awards of Excellence.
And the gallery itself? It’s a hidden gem.
“We’re tucked away,” says Aaron. “No signs. No foot traffic. People have to want to be here. But once they walk in, they’re in another world.”
For art collectors or just the art-curious, Glass 53 is your chance to experience the wonder of glass art.