 San Francisco Chronicle Article
by Kathryn Loosli PritchettA large Christmas tree is the first thing you notice as you walk into ornament designer Larry Fraga's Oakland studio. The greenery is barely visible beneath the hundreds of brilliantly colored mouth-blown glass ornaments that cover the tree. Tiny twinkle lights illuminate the shimmering decorations. Fraga maneuvers around the rows of paint cans and stacks of cardboard boxes overflowing with glittering snow angels to talk about the individual ornaments on the tree. Pointing out a white dolphin balancing a bright pink ball, a jewel-toned Faberge-inspired egg and a grizzly bear clothed in multicolor robes, he laughs, "I like to walk on the wild side." Fraga's "wild walk" began two years ago when he decided to design his own line of mouth-blown glass Christmas ornaments. No stranger to the art form, Fraga's personal collection exceeds 18,000 ornaments. Fraga had no formal art training or glass-blowing skills to guide this artistic venture. Using contacts from his importing business, he procured antique molds to create his first ornament prototypes. He learned how ornaments were blown into the molds, then silvered and hand-painted.  Working with a German glass-blowing company, Fraga designed 30 ornaments for his new company, Dresden Dove. This year, European glass makers produced thousands of Dresden Dove ornaments in more than 500 designs from both antique and new custom molds. They are being sold throughout the country and abroad.
Ornament collectors are very aware of the personalities attached to an ornament line. Along with their obvious beauty, Dresden Dove ornaments have become successful because of Fraga's accessibility to his retail clients and their customers. Collectors are often surprised to call Dresden Dove's corporate offices and have Fraga first answer the phone, then spend time chatting with them about ornaments. Whether that familiarity can continue with the increasing popularity of the line remains to be seen. But watching Fraga enthusiastically describe his design sketches, his face sparkling with errant pieces of glitter from his work table, it's easy to believe he'll follow the counsel he gives to collectors to "keep the glow." That seems to be what Dresden Dove ornaments are all about.
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