One day in April of 2018, I was asked to join an art show called “The Lab presents Art Meets Science” at a gallery in Denver, CO. With a lifetime of working as an artist and having my studio practice degree in glass and sculpture, this was not out of the norm. However, the subject matter was new to me. Everything in this show was to be based on cannabis.
While I never worked in the cannabis field, at that point my soon-to-be husband had 8+ years working his way through a local cannabis company. He had the knowledge base on the subject matter, so it was just a matter of how I wanted to express my artistic talents to come up with work for this show. As a trained glass artist and sculptor-I knew that the best task for me was to come up with finished pieces that resembled actual hash and concentrates.
And so, the work began! I went to multiple dispensaries to scope out what the different looks of hash. I would study batter, budder, sugar, thca diamonds and sauce just to name a few. With only a month until the opening of the show, it was crunch time.
In that month I was able to put together not one, but three different pieces made of glass and steel. They were a first attempt at this subject matter, and I was pleased, but I knew many more months of R&D was needed to refine the look of the fake hash.
Finally came the opening night of this black-tie gallery opening event. The private guest list included staff members from dispensaries and concentrate labs all over Colorado. I had a feeling that if my art was going to grab anyone’s attention, it would happen during that three-hour event. Low and behold, by the end of the evening I had sold a piece and had multiple business cards. Multiple people told me that fake hash was something that cannabis companies needed. There was interest in representational marijuana concentrates and this could be a great busines idea.
Once again, the work began! I had a few meetings lined up and it was time to make all sorts of samples, document each step of the process, and build a brand that was worth bringing to the table. It didn’t take long for the name to come about: Glassentrate = glass + concentrate. It was a unique name and Google never heard of it!
I came up with over 25 samples for starters and it was not long before that expanded into 100. Daily I would show my husband my newest rendition of a concentrate type and he would provide feedback like “…needs to be darker, should look more wet, smaller grain size…” After a while, I started to receive actual samples from some laboratories and would make multiple replicas, matching colors and textures to the best of my abilities. Display designs and ideas evolved with the fake hash, along with educational and marketing materials and completed branded point of sale units.
With over 2 years developing Glassentrate as a brand, its been challenging and fun. Every day I have new and improved way of making my products along with ways to display them. I can’t wait to share all my ideas.
Thanks for reading!
Meredith Gill
