CHARLENE FOSTER AKA CHA CHA CHAINZ

 

ABOUT

Charlene Foster aka Cha Cha Chainz represents the gold standard in glass chain making. A pioneer of the trend, she has been perfecting the art of flawless and seamless links since 2002. Foster has collaborated with the best in the game, building a bridge between fine art, fashion and functional glass. Her work has been featured in numerous fashion publications as she artfully merges the world of bespoke high fashion and glass accessories.

Born on an Air Force base in the Philippines and raised in Alaska, Foster attended the University of Alaska Anchorage studying Fine Art and Psychology. She worked for a glass artist in Anchorage who introduced Foster to the summer session catalogs for Pilchuck, Penland and The Corning Museum of Glass. After applying and getting accepted to all three schools, Foster left home to travel the country, eventually settling in New York City in 2002. There, she began working for Michael Davis Glass on the production crew for a line of Tiffany & Company vases. Later, the artist assisted James McLeod during his fellowship at Wheaton Village, which led to her assisting a number of other instructors and eventually teaching her own class at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn. Her work was represented at SOFA New York and Chicago from 2007 to 2011 by UrbanGlass.

Currently, Foster focuses on creating collaborative glass pieces, custom jewelry and accessories for a wide range of shops across the country, and direct to customers through her website, http://www.chachachainz.com/