A Year-Round Guide to Franklin and Nantahala

In the first room of Rob Levin’s studio, his designs — elongated and pointed, intricate and etched, brilliantly hued — catch the morning sun. In the second and third rooms,

Rosemary and Goat Cheese Strata

In the first room of Rob Levin’s studio, his designs — elongated and pointed, intricate and etched, brilliantly hued — catch the morning sun. In the second and third rooms,

Studio Tour with Rob Levin of Burnsville

Studio Tour with Robin Levin of Burnsville

In the first room of Rob Levin’s studio, his designs — elongated and pointed, intricate and etched, brilliantly hued — catch the morning sun. In the second and third rooms, ceiling-high stacks of branches and bamboo dominate. In the fourth, shelves hold dozens of pieces awaiting completion. This last room, where Levin watches the seasons change outside, is where the true work gets done, on a decades-old bench surrounded by glass furnaces — plus corrugated tin panels to protect him from the heat his remarkable creations require.


Feature image: To create “ribbons” of glass on a finished piece (above left), Levin adds globules of hot glass while the piece is still in progress.

This story was published on Nov 16, 2016

Susan Stafford Kelly

Susan Stafford Kelly was raised in Rutherfordton. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill and earned a Master of Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. She is the author of Carolina Classics, a collection of essays that have appeared in Our State, and five novels: How Close We Come, Even Now, The Last of Something, Now You Know, and By Accident. Susan has three grown children and lives in Greensboro with her husband, Sterling.