Andi Kovel
Andi Kovel is an internationally recognized artist and designer working across glass, product design, lighting, and site-specific installation. Originally from Rochester, New York, she studied sculpture at the University of Colorado Boulder before continuing her education in art and theory at the School of Visual Arts and New York University. She developed her technical foundation in glass at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, later working as a gaffer for artists including Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, and Maya Lin.
After relocating to Portland, Oregon, Kovel co-founded Esque Studio with Justin Parker, establishing a design practice known for pushing hand-blown glass beyond conventional distinctions between art, object, and function. Her background in sculpture, accessory design, and art theory informs a singular visual language defined by an irreverent punk-lux sensibility and a fascination with pure form, color, scale, and space.
Kovel’s practice is grounded in deep technical knowledge but driven by experimentation. Across objects, lighting, sculpture, and immersive installations, she continually expands the possibilities of glass as both material and experience.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums, galleries, and design contexts, including Homo Faber in Venice, and is held in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, and the Shanghai Museum of Glass. She also appeared on Season 2 of Netflix’s Blown Away.
Kovel’s work occupies a distinctive position between contemporary art and design, bringing material rigor, visual wit, and continual invention to the evolving language of glass.