Hilal Nadi Hibri
Place of birth: Beirut, Lebanon
Birth Year: 1976
Currently residing and working in: San Antonio, TX, USA

Hilal's first exposure to glass art came from his father, Dr. Nadi Hibri, who had been a glass aficionado, collector, and very skilled hobbyist, his entire life. After college, Hilal apprenticed under Oregon artist, Linda Either in 1998 and attended her advanced mold-making and multi-part mold pate de verre course in 2006. With his natural knack for the technical processes of glass casting it was no surprise when he began sculpting and firing pieces in his garage in 2005, and has been mostly taught through experimentation ever since. He constantly deconstructs and refines his process, matching techniques to their appropriate styles.

Hilal Hibri's art is elegance crystallized. He is driven by a cosmic itch to distill the underlying vitality of nature into tangible objects that are uniquely beautiful. Seduced by the unpredictable journey of creation, he does not attempt to "conquer" his medium. Instead, his sculpting unfolds itself to him through a spontaneous process that could be called "Zen sculpting." Hilal follows streams of energy, gleaned from the nature of his sculpting material, to their logical end points, creating curves and sinews. Using innovative sculpting techniques and "found tools" he has evolved the famously tedious processes of glass casting to become more immediate and direct. His pioneering style infuses classic sculpture with the efficiencies and capabilities of digital art. Hilal's pieces provide a momentary meditation as the eye passes over bubbles and colors frozen in time. Through this, he freezes grace. He makes the moment ornate.

KATI McALLISTER HIBRI Kati McAllister Hibri is currently 27 years old and is the sixth generation of her family to live in San Antonio. She is the great grand daughter of Mayor McAllister and the daughter of a designer and a businessman. Kati was taught to speak Spanish at a young age by her nanny (who actually gave her the lasting nickname derived from Katherine), and she is likely to be caught singing in Spanish at a stoplight.

Her first love, as far as art forms are concerned, was dance. She started with ballet classes in second grade, and has since practiced many different dance forms including: Flamenco, South Indian temple dance and Ghanaian dance. In general, if there is a dance floor, look for her there.

In 2001, Kati enrolled at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) and began her double-course of study: Earth & Environmental Science, and Religion. In 2002, Kati became vegetarian (she prefers to eat vegan and raw) and began growing her dreadlocks (she prefers referring to them as "love locks"). Kati has studied and traveled in many different countries, including a 75 day backpacking stint in Patagonia. In the summer of 2005, she worked for the "Art, Ambiance, and Antics" crew on The String Cheese Incident's Big Summer Classic Tour which involved performing with giant puppets and props from stage, entertaining the crowd in between the six bands with various participatory games, and adding to the carnival-like atmosphere. That same year, she made her first pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada for the annual Burning Man art event, and has only missed it once since then, vowing that it would be the only year she was absent. In 2006, Kati graduated from Wesleyan and moved back to San Antonio to be with her family.

On 7-7-07, Kati and Hilal met, and they were both immediately enthralled with each other. Within three weeks they traveled to Oregon to attend a String Cheese Incident festival, solidifying their connection, and within a few months Hilal and Kati had started their glass jewelry line. In 8-08 Hilal proposed to Kati (just before his first trip to Burning Man with her), and in 9-09 they were married.

All of Kati's glasswork has been guided by Hilal's experience and is evidence of their love.

NADI HIBRI, M.D. has been a glass artist since the early 1980’s, doing fusing, enameling, sandblasting, and casting. He devoted his free time to learn about the history of art glass, with special interest in French Art Nouveau glass, of which he is a collector. 

Eventually, he focused on pate-de-verre, and by the year 2000, his passion for this challenging and tedious process, led him to take 5 years from his medical practice to enhance his research of the G. Argy-Rousseau pate-de-verre process and style.

The initial 4 years proved unrewarding, however, tenacity and perhaps luck, led to successful results that appear to approximate that particular pate-de-verre look and feel. Presently, Dr. Hibri is returning to his Radiology practice, and continues to do pate-de-verre.