Daniel Bell and Jeremy Wilstein's divergent backgrounds gave no hint of their eventual partnership. Jeremy grew up here, a "sleepy little town with one stop light,” he remembers. Daniel was dropped off in PC from Minnesota by a friend en route to California. “Now, twenty years have gone by," he chuckles.
The pair opened Red Flower Studios seven years ago – a colorful redoubt of the glass blower's art where Parkites can experiment with this daring art form. "When blowing glass, there is no stopping," Daniel says. "It's game on." Jeremy laughingly recalls his first studio effort. "The plan was to sculpt a feather out of red glass. We created something, but it was far from a delicate feather!"
Daniel’ background includes years of culinary experience; he can offer Red Flower guests a glass-blowing adventure and "five-course meals cooked on or with hot molten glass with Chef Adam Walker.” Guests are involved every step of the way.
Realtor Jeremy recalls a seismic shift in his outlook following a ten-day silent meditation retreat in 2015. "I started interacting with the world from a different perspective," he avers. Meeting Daniel at about the same time, Jeremy continued in real estate while evolving toward their art business partnership. With a successful Park City Studio, the pair opened a 5,000-square-foot space in Salt Lake last fall.
Duluth-born Daniel loves Utah’s outdoors, "skiing and snowboarding, and doing 'Paddle Tuesdays' on the water with friends," he says. The desert's vast aridity “terrified me,” he recalls, “but finding water in obscure places and seeing how no one takes it for granted opened my eyes.”
For Jeremy, the blue skies call. “I spend a lot of time in the clouds, chasing birds in my paraglider," he smiles.
Today, these Chamber partners are poised for growth, their approach reflected in Jeremy's studio philosophy. "It's all about the journey,” he smiles, “because you never know what the end product will be."