LITCHFIELD – Artist Amalia Flaisher left her native home in Ashkelon, Israel 21-years-ago, always keeping art in her back pocket as a creative way of expressing herself.

“It started out as a hobby,” she said. “I was working as a graphic designer and in 2009, when the market crashed and a lot of things happened, the company where I was working closed and I was out of work.”

Flaisher, left without a way of earning an income, decided to take what she described as a “fun thing” to the next level, by creating art with glass in her home studio in Litchfield.

“I thought to try it as a full-time job,” she explained. “Actually it wasn’t just full-time work, it was full-time pleasure. I started doing craft shows and established doing wholesale so I could sell to galleries and museums.”

Originally, Flaisher’s husband was working alongside her, but after COVID-19 struck, her sales slowed a bit and he sought other work.

“A lot changed,” she said. “I still do my work and I still sell online, but without shows, it’s very hard to reach people because obviously we’re not out there.”

Flaisher has a strong online presence, with her website, sand-and-art.com, as well as platforms where her items are for sale, such as Etsy, Amazon and Houzz. “Sand and Water” can also be found in over 100 retailers and specialty gift shops across the country, including the Milwalkee Art Museum gift shop in Milwalkee, Wisconsin and American Crafts by Robbie Dein in downtown Ithaca, New York.

“These keep me going,” she said. “Not as much as what I would want, but there’s something and I’m grateful for that.”

Flaisher learned to fuse her own glass in her kiln and makes hand-crafted items for the kitchen and dining. Those items include drinkware, serving utensils, oil and vinegar cruets, serving bowls, plates, trays and napkin holders, to name a several.

“One thing we do is form glass in the kiln and we all have kinds of forms for that,” she said. “The kiln heats the glass to a melting point where it takes the given shape. I work 100% with recycled glass and window glass, and I also work with bottles.”

The bottles are manipulated and painted, and once cured, they can be used with food or for decoration outside in the form of recycled wind chimes. Flaisher said she can create virtually anything out of glass because she has her own kiln.

Another special facet of Flaisher’s craft is creating Judaica. In her collection, she creates contemporary design pieces based on her family’s Jewish heritage.

Growing up on the Mediterranean in Israel, Flaisher said sand and water was her in view and that’s what inspired the name of her company. It takes different amounts of time to complete an item based on that item’s complexity and size.

“In general, working time involves cutting and preparing the glass,” she said. “That time might range between an hour and a day. The firing time then is about 12-24 hours. Sometimes even more if it’s a big item, just to fire. And then there is the cooling, and then the painting, so it adds up to days to complete a project.”

Flaisher said the functionality of her pieces adds to the marketability of any given item that she hand-creates.

“Vases are also something that I enjoy making, which are very popular,” she said. “Candle holders are popular as well.”

In addition to being a professional photographer and graphic artist and website designer, Flaisher is now dabbling in jewelry, although she hasn’t created a line – just yet.

“Throughout my life, there has always been art,” she said. “I always like to try and learn more. At one point I took classes at the Currier Museum, doing metalsmithing. To me if it’s creative, then it is art.”

“Sand and Water” also accepts submissions for custom work, personalizing existing products to match a client’s style and taste. For information, send inquiries to studio@sand-and-water.com.

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