Before Andrew Madvin ever picked up a blowpipe, he was melting action figures in the backyard. “They all died in flames in an epic battle,” he said with a laugh.
That early fascination with fire would eventually find its calling. In college, Andrew discovered hot glass—and with it, a lifelong collaboration with heat. What began as a metal and jewelry focus in high school quickly morphed into something bigger, more architectural, and more elemental. Glass was light and heat, movement and memory. “The results are amazing,” he said, “but the process—that’s what I love. The movement, the physicality. It’s like a dance. Our cues come from the glass.”
Younger brother Robert’s journey into glass began helping Andrew stretch molten glass for a college installation. That early hands-on experience planted a spark. Years later, after studying glass in Detroit and Hawaii, Robert developed a style all his own—one inspired by the meditative art of stone-stacking, which he echoes in his serene, sculptural forms.
Today, the brothers work side by side, their distinct aesthetics complementing each other without ever competing. Andrew and Robert run Axiom Glass, a studio nestled into one of Royal Oak’s most quietly creative corners. They’re part of a micro-community of makers—welders, woodworkers, designers—quietly reshaping what it means to make art for a living.
But Axiom doesn’t just make art. It shares it. Open studio events throughout the year let the public watch molten glass transform in real time. “I tell people: bring your kids, bring your grandparents, bring a date,” Andrew said. “You get close to the fire. You feel the heat. You watch liquid become form. It’s the same feeling I get every day.”
Working with glass, he explained, is a constant collaboration with risk and rhythm. “Glass breaks a lot,” he said. “You learn to fail. And when it breaks, you’re losing money. But you prepare. You adjust. You learn. And then you take it one step further—you put it in front of an audience. You don’t know how they’ll respond. But that’s the work.”
The work is alive. Music shapes the mood, becoming an invisible collaborator in the studio. “We’re always listening to music,” Andrew said. “It sets the energy. The smoother the rhythm, the smoother the movement.” Like musicians in a band, Andrew and Robert sync to the cues they get from the glass itself.
Speaking of smooth, that's the brothers' goal when they're creating. “If you ever race cars, smooth is fast,” Andrew said. “So if you want to go fast, you need to find a way to get smooth. Glassblowing is the same way.”
Glass, he added, “records everything. You can’t erase it like you can with wood or metal. Every movement leaves a mark. It shows you where it’s been.”
And in that way, each piece becomes a living record—not of a memory, but of a moment.
As for Andrew's relationship with heat? “It’s energy. It’s opportunity. It’s like the sun,” he said. “The furnace is always on. It hums. When it’s off, something’s wrong. But when it’s on—it means you can create.”
Andrew and Robert’s studio sells to retailers across North America and beyond, with their work appearing in galleries, hotels, and private collections. But Andrew said it’s the local connection that now matters most.
“I’m five minutes from home,” he said. “Our building in Detroit made it tough to open up to the public. But here? We’re building something together.”
From the hiss of a furnace to the shine of a finished piece, what happens at Axiom Glass is more than art—it’s the heat of presence, the rhythm of risk, and the beauty of making something that remembers everything it’s been through.
And that, perhaps, is the deepest magic of glass: it doesn’t just reflect light. It reflects life.
To learn more or attend an open studio event, visit axiomglass.com
"Glass records everything. Every movement leaves a mark. It shows you where it’s been.”
“You get close to the fire. You feel the heat. You watch liquid become form."