For most people, glass is a material—fragile, functional and often overlooked. For Brit Deslonde, it’s the medium through which her past, passions and personal philosophy come to life. Her Santa Rosa Beach studio, Glass Deer, hums with heat and possibility—a place where fire becomes beauty and visitors leave changed.
Deslonde didn’t set out to be a glass artist. At 17, she was painting murals and picking up creative side gigs when she landed a job with a jewelry company. She began crafting lampwork beads by hand — meticulously shaping hundreds of tiny spheres in a week.
“I got a side job working for a jewelry company,” Deslonde said. “At the time, I thought I was going to become a landscape architect and I ended up just completely falling in love with glasswork.”
Her quota was 500 beads a week. She once calculated she’d made about 150,000 in total.
“There were times when, you know, a little something would be just slightly off. My specs were actually 6.5 to 6.8 millimeters—and you’re building these things by eye,” she said. “I’d get to the end of the day and realize my eye was slightly off and all my work was bad.”
Though she was grateful to earn a living, the repetitive nature of production work wore her down. She shifted her focus, training with artists in Atlanta and creating her own pieces on the side. At 21, she made the leap into more artistic ventures, creating custom pieces for weddings and experimenting with her own style.
Eventually, she moved to the Emerald Coast, where a fateful introduction changed everything.
“I ended up meeting Russ Gilbert,” she said. “He’s probably one of the best lampwork or torchwork artists in the United States—top three—and also a phenomenal person.”
She apprenticed under Gilbert for nearly a decade at Fusion Art Glass in Seaside, Florida, learning not just torchwork but also furnace work and fusing. “He kind of rounded out most of my general knowledge,” she said.
It was during this era that Deslonde sculpted her first glass deer — a creature that had followed her since childhood.
“I grew up north of Atlanta in a small mountain town called Big Canoe,” she said. “Every day, we’d see these deer come by, and I just kind of fell in love with the animal. When I started sculpting, it was something I saw every single day, so I chose that to be my very first thing.”
When she later purchased Gilbert’s studio, she knew she needed a name that felt personal — but wasn’t based on her last name.
“First of all, no one can pronounce my last name,” she laughed. “So I went with more of a concept than a name. Glass Deer had that history for me.”
Photos courtesy Brit Deslonde 
Today, Glass Deer isn’t just a studio—it’s an experience. Located off County Road 393 among a tight-knit group of local artists, the space hosts everything from casual afternoon classes to in-depth six-week sessions.
“We offer classes in fusing, torchwork and furnace work, so you can come in for a couple hours for those,” she said. “Or, if it’s a rainy day at the beach and you need something to do for the afternoon, come in and take a class. And, if you’re really interested in learning the craft, we also offer more advanced courses.”
She’s recently started bringing in internationally trained artists for pop-up masterclasses.
“This past year, we started to roll out a program where we’re having actual, really highly skilled, just well-known artists come in and teach,” she said. “Honestly, I started inviting people I wanted to learn from.”
Her hope is to expand that idea beyond glass. She’s been in talks with blacksmiths and painters to offer classes in various disciplines.
Deslonde’s philosophy is rooted in accessibility, both technically and emotionally.
“There is no chance you will ever stop learning,” she said. “There’s always going to be somebody better than you, or a technique you’ve never even thought of.”
But she also wants students to feel at ease.
“Our goal is to be incredibly hospitable,” she said. “We slow down. We give people time. I didn’t want people to feel like cattle.”
She contrasted her approach with the “blow-your-own” glass classes she’s seen elsewhere. “You literally walk up, they go ‘What color do you want?’ You tap it twice, the instructor does all the work, then they say ‘Blow here,’ and you get your piece,” she said. “And honestly, I didn’t find any joy in that.”
At Glass Deer, she insists on a more intimate, hands-on experience, often with private instruction or small groups. “We want people to feel super welcome,” she said. “More than being intimidated, we want them to foster their creativity.”
Deslonde still finds time to create her own work—primarily on commission. One of her current projects is a massive installation for McCaskill & Company Fine Jewelry: 75 gilded leaves made with pure 24-karat gold.
“They commissioned 75 gilded gold leaves,” she said. “They’re furnace worked and have pure gold in them, because it has to be 24 karat to survive the melting process.”
She’s juggling several other commissions too, both for companies and individuals.
The studio’s future, she said, is focused on building community and expanding opportunity — for herself and others. “We want to be somewhere you can pop in and have a good time, but also somewhere you can foster real technical skill.”
And that openness—inviting people into a fine-art space without ego—is something she learned from Gilbert.
“He always gave people the time of day,” she said. “Even if it was a cleaner coming in, he treated them like they mattered.”
From deer in the Georgia woods to gilded leaves in a Florida jewelry store, Brit Deslonde’s journey hasn’t followed a straight line. But that’s how glass works: shaped by fire, hardened by time and always catching light in unexpected ways.
