Oneonta native Bobby Sharp has been a lifelong artist, but his passion for glass was forged in the early 2000s.

Sharp, 57, owns Glassworks, a studio, production and gift shop space established in 2004 at 736 state Highway 28 in Oneonta.

Sharp said he came to glass by way of furniture.

“I started designing high-end furniture at a very young age, and then somebody told me that you have to sell this to the rich and famous, because of the quality of the work,” he said. “I did things very well, but I knew some glassblowers that had some shards, and I said, ‘You throw all this out? Can I take it?,’ so I gathered it all, cleaned it and polished it by the hundreds and I had this dream about encasing glass in plastic. I approached (local attorney) George Silvernail, and he commissioned me to do an end table. I knew I was on to something and … it was incredibly beautiful and that’s how I got started: the attention paid for it, and that opened up the door for me to glassblowing.”

Another commissioned piece, Sharp said, proved pivotal.

“Frank Mann, of Mann Media, said, ‘Create something for me and I’ll see if I’ll buy it,’ and, being as I had all those shards of glass, I thought I’d do something with this picture of Jimi Hendrix,” he said. “You have to think differently, and you can’t just do the basic stuff like everybody else; it’s got to be unique.”

The result, Sharp said, was a mosaic-style, hand-painted glass portrait that took three months to refine, but emerged “incredible” and “a masterpiece.”

The Hendrix portrait, he said, launched a follow-up commission from Mann to “do the whole series of Woodstock” artists.

“I took that money to feed the business,” he said. “Then Hoffman Lane Bistro (in Cooperstown) said, ‘this man is incredible,’ and ‘we’ve got an idea for you; we want you to put dividers in the restaurant of glass and flowers.’ I created the forms and the flowers. I went to the woods and did a test, and it was incredibly beautiful. Then something strange happened. I was taking a walk on Main Street and met an art dealer that was a big dealer in Manhattan and Paris. (Robert Horne) looked at this composition of the flowers … and said, ‘You’re a genius. Your spatial sense is incredible.’ He knew I was living in a garage and he said, ‘I’ll put you up in business,’ so he put up thousands and thousands of dollars as I built the business. That’s how it started to take off … and it got me known.”

Establishing Bobby Sharp Glassworks, Sharp said, again relied on critical collaborations and commissions.

“I put a small glass line and a small 190-pound tank with gas and I did everything small — a small website and I started working on designs and it started taking off,” he said. “It was around then that I got the Beekman 1802 (commission). I approached them to do soap dishes and some decanters, and they said, ‘We have other ideas for you’ and started giving me commissions for more decanters and champagne flutes.”

That, Sharp said, necessitated an early expansion of the business, originally called Mountain Glass, for which he relied upon help from Art Reed of Sweet Water Glass in Andes. Simultaneously, Sharp said, he began a relationship with Corning Museum of Glass, where he also rented studio time and further honed his skills.

“I would do what Art told me … and it took months and months to develop all the equipment,” he said. “When Art and I finished updating, that’s when I brought people from Corning to work for me in Oneonta.”

Popular items developed during that period, Sharp said, included his “Lady Fingers” whiskey glasses, designed to fit comfortably in female hands, and baseball bat-shaped drinking glasses.

Today, Sharp said, he’s focused on sharing his passion.

“Out of all that hard work, now I’m setting up all these workshop classes and maybe a school and I’ll be teaching through the whole winter,” he said. “I’m doing these ornament classes and have other classes coming up with the head teacher of glass from Corning and he is going to teach an intro to glassblowing … and do that at the end of January or beginning of February. And we’re having make-your-own paperweight (classes), where you’re one-on-one with the glassblower and … another where you’ll be able to make your own beads for necklaces.”

Classes, he said, are $99 per person and will be “a little over an hour.” Classes and gift shop hours will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 to 3 on Saturday. Sharp said he is open to requests for gift shop products.

Though his products are sold “all around the country,” Sharp said, locals are enthusiastic about the class series.

“After ‘Blown Away’ (a Netflix documentary), people are coming to Corning from all over the world and everybody wants to be a glassblower,” he said. “That’s why I’m pushing now to do the classes and I have something different than what other people are offering. I’m going to have a class where you can learn how to make glass and make money from it. It will include the chamber of commerce and the bank and the right people … so that, when (people) take the class, they’ll know how to wholesale and retail and do social media and open up a small business and generate revenue. A lot of locals now are approaching, like for the ornament class, so it’s Franklin and Oneonta people signing up.”

Sharp said, after nearly two decades, glass still fuels him.

“It’s so much fun and you get so excited,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s late at night and I’ll just come out and sit out by the furnace, because it glows and it’s something that you appreciate and look forward to. It’s fun and it’s not boring and I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and start to create. It makes you feel good. I love it, I love glass.”

For more information or to book a class, visit bobbysharpglassworks.com.