Capturing light
WHEN NORWALK ARTIST COULDN’T DEPICT THE LIGHT WITH PAINT, SHE TURNED TO GLASS
Dorothy Hafner was part of a New York City communal art studio in the 1970s, where she painted when not at her full-time job.
Other artists pursued ceramics, creating lots of dust in the studio, so Hafner began painting on large slabs of clay.
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” she explained.
She then started making ceramic plates and decided to do “wild and wonderful designs” on them.
That choice helped launch Hafner’s career as a successful tableware designer. She’s best known for the modern, bold and colorful look of her Flash dinnerware line with German-based Rosenthal.
The avant-garde Flash designs and dishware shapes received lots of media publicity, became an icon of the 1980s and have been showcased in numerous design books. They remain popular with collectors today.
“I made a splash and loved what I was doing,” the Norwalk resident said.
Hafner designed tableware, giftware, architectural tiles, furniture, carpet, and bed and bath items for companies such as Tiffany, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York and Fieldcrest Cannon.
But ceramic design was only the first part of her career as an artist. She’s known nowadays for her glass art, from vessels to decorative panels.
“I marvel in a resonance that I can achieve in no other material,” she said of her glass work.
Her work from ceramic plates to glass sculptures can be found in museums throughout the United States and Europe, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Corning Museum of Glass.
She’s exhibited in galleries around the globe and received commissions to do installations for hospitals, businesses and museums. The National Tabletop Association and National Home Fashions League honored Hafner with awards.
She teaches art classes at the Hafner Creative Space in her South Norwalk studio. Earlier in her career, she oversaw the ceramics program at Parsons School of Design in New York.
Helping other people tap into their artistic abilities in her workshops is important to Hafner. “People can step out of a routine, create together and learn about themselves,” she said.
Her glass creations were initially inspired by scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef off Australia during a career sabbatical in the early 1990s. Seeing the colors of the sea in the glistening sun deeply impacted Hafner, who’s always had a love for the natural sciences.
“I came out of the water and said, ‘I believe in God,’” she recalled.
She couldn’t fully recapture those memories by painting — especially “the brilliant sparkling that changes in response to different light” — so she turned to glass, a new medium for her.
Each glass piece “is its own journey,” said Hafner, noting the process differs from designing home products on a commercial scale. Her glass art is “labor intensive” and “more challenging,” she said.
Hafner, 68, grew up in “a very creative family” in Woodbridge. Her father was a chemical engineer and excellent violin player, while her mother specialized in horticulture and landscape design.
“We were always making, doing or growing things,” she said. “We jammed, jellied and pickled, and I made my own clothes. We rarely sat down.”
After attending Skidmore College, where her artistic interests flourished, the 1970 Amity High graduate moved to New York City. “I wanted to be where it was happening,” she said.
Hafner worked for arts organizations but the urge to create art in a studio remained. That’s when she joined the communal art studio.
She designed more than a dozen lines of tableware, both handcrafted and industrially produced, while also producing oneof-a-kind porcelain pieces.
Hafner was based in New York City for more than three decades before moving back to Connecticut in 2008, briefly living in Westport before settling in Norwalk.
While she worked constantly when younger, she now takes “a bit more relaxed approach” as a way to balance her work and quality of life.
She sometimes misses New York, including the nightlife, but thinks Connecticut is the right place for her now. She’s gotten
into gardening and walking on the beach and still finds time for artistic pursuits.
She’s particularly passionate about helping others explore art these days. “It’s a way of giving back,” she said.
Small classes are offered at her studio for beginners and more advanced students, using glass as the primary medium. There also are corporate team-building activities and special events for couples and women.
In-person classes have resumed with safety precautions after a hiatus caused by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students are urged to focus on “things uniquely interesting to them” so they loosen up and experiment. Hafner often asks them to produce something beautiful in a color they dislike.
“It’s sort of like creative brainstorming, helping them find the magic in themselves,” she said.
Hafner emphasized that people can manifest creativity in many ways, such as running a business well. “Creativity isn’t just about making things,” she said. “It’s about the ability to find new solutions to old problems.”
She’s proud of all she’s accomplished as a professional artist, turning her ideas into reality. “I like to say I was lucky, but I know deep down I worked like a dog.”