Kathryn Gooding
distinctive barware

Kathryn Gooding, designer and owner of Asta Glass, had always enjoyed a good martini but couldn’t find enough interesting glasses from which to drink them. Sensing a need, she left behind a career in finance, founded Asta Glass, and became its designer, manufacturer, chief bottle and glass washer (really!), salesperson and accountant. With no formal art training, she relied instead on her sources of inspiration. She taught herself the method of sandblasting designs onto glasses and wasn’t satisfied until each glass met her meticulous standards. Now using both sides of her brain, Kathryn happily works on new designs and shapes inspired by the Bay Area’s beauty and the ideas that pour into it from around the world. Together with a small group of local craftspeople and artisans, she still manufactures, sells and keeps the books at her studio near San Francisco, and makes a fine martini for herself, her husband, and whoever drops by at the end of the day.