949.715.1534
SIEMON & SALAZAR STORY
Caleb Siemon grew up surrounded by a family of artists and designers. His early immersion in the arts led him to take a glass-blowing class in high school; he was hooked. He honed his glass blowing at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After school, he apprenticed in Murano, Italy, under master glass blower and sculptor Pino Signoretto. After a transformative experience working in Murano for a few years, in 1999, Caleb returned home to California to open his own studio. Quickly, he realized he needed help and called Carmen Salazar, a good friend from RISD and a skilled sculptor and designer. While building their studio and brand, they fell in love and married a few years later.
A friendship, love story, and obsession with glass, art, and design is where the Siemon and Salazar adventure begins.
Carmen Salazar grew up outside Washington, DC. Her parents were not artists; they were involved in the sciences and engineering. However, her folks instilled a love and appreciation for the arts early in childhood by taking Carmen and her siblings to every museum and show that came through DC. At RISD, while exploring architecture, photography, and sculpture, she too fell in love with the art and process of glass blowing. Carmen also continued her education after founding Siemon & Salazar and received a Master’s Degree in Architecture from SCI-Arc.
After ten years of creating a collection of artisanal vessels, in 2009, they launched their first line of hand-blown glass lighting. 2009 is also when they fatefully met the founders of Cerno, who had recently started a lighting company. Over the next decade, both Cerno and Siemon & Salazar evolved and grew. In 2022, Caleb, Carmen, Bret, Daniel, and Nick started exploring collaborating more, and those conversations turned into the two companies teaming up and Cerno acquiring Siemon and Salazar.
At Cerno's headquarters, with Caleb leading the design effort, we built out an Italian inspired glass studio, which is where all of our glass is blown today by Caleb, Carmen, and a team of skilled glass blowers that have been on the part of our story for a long time.
Meet the Team
Samuel Vazquez
​
Sammy felt his calling to the arts as a young boy growing up in the family jewelry business. As far as his memory goes back, he remembers making and designing products. After high school, he studied glass blowing at Cal State Fullerton; at this time he also started apprenticing with Siemon & Salazar in 2010. Two years later, he was a full-time team member, and for the last 14 years, Sammy has become an integral part of everything we make in the glass studio.
Rachel Perez
​
Rachel has always loved the arts; since she was a kid, all of her free time was spent drawing, painting, sculpting, and sewing. However, the strongest pull was toward 3-dimensional mediums of creating. While majoring in studio art at Cal State Fullerton, her passion for glass developed. She took one stained-glass class and was hooked on the material. She fell in love with the beauty of the process and the challenges of blowing glass.
Matthew Ryan
​
Some of Matt's earliest memories are of tinkering in his garage with his dad; he also loved to draw. His dad and grandpa were artists, and many of their pieces were around his home while he was growing up. This early exposure to art inspired Matt to pursue the arts in college. It was a 3-dimensional art class during his studies where he discovered glass blowing. Shortly after his introduction to glass, he started working at Siemon & Salazar, and since graduating, he has been a full-time part of the team since 2015.
Paul Brayton
​
I was first introduced to glass while attending pitzer College in Claremont Ca. All art majors had to complete an independent study off campus and I found a local glass artist (Rhys Williams) who agreed to take me under his wing. I was immediately mesmerized by the characteristics of glass. The heat the fluidity of the material and the continuous movement, dexterity and patience it takes to create anything out of glass. I was hooked.