Glass Cathedrals by Lisa Swerling

Freewheelin' San Francisco by Lisa Swerling
Freewheelin’ San Francisco by Lisa Swerling

Lisa Swerling was born in South Africa, grew up in England and now lives outside San Francisco. Her Glass Cathedrals are a series of artboxes containing tiny worlds and small statements about our complicated lives. She’s been making the Glass Cathedrals since 2006.

The Grass is Always Greener by Lisa Swerling
The Grass is Always Greener by Lisa Swerling

Swerling recently told The Sabotage Times:

The concepts behind the Glass Cathedrals are based on the sorts of thoughts I’ve been having since I was six. ‘Why do I have to tidy my room?’ … ‘Help, I’m going to die one day’ … ‘I love small’ … ‘I don’t want to jump in the pool, but I will anyway’ … ‘Yay, glitter!’ … etc.

An Utter Disregard for Consequences (detail) by Lisa Swerling
An Utter Disregard for Consequences (detail) by Lisa Swerling

The Cathedrals range in price with smaller boxes for £225 and larger limited editions at £880. Many of the boxes can also be personalized. Make the protagonist a young Korean man and the scrawl a whale and it could be David Choe in the vignette above!

Evergreen (detail) by Lisa Swerling
Evergreen (detail) by Lisa Swerling

…Or Swerling can carve you and your lover’s initials on the tree trunk. Check out all of the Glass Cathedrals at http://glasscathedrals.com.