to the wall. Diane Hanson, left, and Lesli Jacobs-McHugh combine their backgrounds in glass and interior design in their new business, bellaballs. (Photos by john larson)
Tough times drew Diane Hanson and Lesli Jacobs-McHugh together first as friends and now as business partners.
They just opened bellaballs, which sells glass floats created with the two women’s unique designs.
Japanese fisherman used such floats to hold up their fishing nets. Some of them inevitably break loose and wash up on beaches around the Pacific Rim.
Hanson remembers seeing them on the beach where she grew up in Anacortes. Jacobs-McHugh first encountered them in Japan, where she grew up. “I wanted to know where they came from and where they had been,” she said.
In 1999 Ladies Home Journal did an interview with Hanson. Wanting to look her best for the photo shoot, she asked Jacobs-McHugh, a former model, for advice. They met through a mutual friend.
Both women have gone through difficult times in recent years. Jacobs-McHugh lost her husband to leukemia, while Hanson’s mother lost her 12-year battle with breast cancer.
The two found they had many mutual interests, including art, travel and good food. They took a trip to Italy together, which is where the name of their business came from. All the men called them “bella,” Italian for beautiful. Upon returning home they called each other by their new nickname.
Hanson earns a living as an artist. She studied various mediums, first at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. But glassblowing, which she studied at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, had a special pull. “Nothing really grabbed me until I picked up the blow pipe in 1990.”
She is drawn to the social nature of the process, the team of artists working together. The medium itself intrigues her. “It is a medium that is alive and fluid.”
When her husband died, Jacobs-McHugh decided to go back to college, where she earned a degree in interior design. She worked for a company for several years before starting her own firm.
A few years ago Jacobs-McHugh’s daughter got married. She and Hanson decided to make glass floats with a design embossed onto metal foil, the same as what was used on the wedding invitations. These were placed at tables during the reception, for guests to take home as a memento. “We made 220 of them in one day, which was crazy,” Hanson said.
They knew they were onto something and made plans to open a business. The location on Fawcett Avenue was an easy choice; this is Hanson’s building, with her studio in the basement. Blackwater Cafe occupies the front section facing the street. The retail part of their business in back was formerly Hanson’s private gallery.
Jacobs-McHugh feels their skills compliment each other’s. “There is no one else I could be a business partner with,” she said.
The floats are available in more than 150 colors. They sell for $40. The two women see a potential niche for them as corporate gifts, with the business logo embossed on the foil. The price is low enough that average people could buy some as gifts for wedding, anniversaries or other special occasions. They could sit in a China hutch or decorate a garden. They are also available for rent.
“Glass is strong and resilient, just like us,” Hanson said. “As humans we may get beat up in the storms of life. Sometimes when we weather the storms we see beauty.”
The business is located at 747 Fawcett Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call (253) 627-0183.
