Stained-glass artist transfers designs to scarves, handbags

Photo by Allan and Lisa Mueller

photos Special to the News Sentinel Sevierville stained-glass artist Charles Ottolini poses with three of his original paintings he turned into silk scarves in his new business venture of creating silk scarves, handbags and other accessories inspired by his stained-glass work.

Photo by Allan and Lisa Mueller

Special to the News Sentinel This handbag's design came from a horse that Ottolini painted for the Dixie Stampede several years ago.

Artist Charles Ottolini never thought he would flip through InStyle magazine looking at silk scarves, handbags and other women's accessories.

Nor did the 58-year-old Sevierville resident ever dream he would became a fashion designer almost 40 years after beginning art school.

"I was with my friend at the airport. At a newspaper stand, I found myself thumbing through fashion magazines," said Ottolini, who has spent his career designing stained-glass windows. "I bought my first InStyle magazine a few months ago." He joked, "I traded in all my man cards."

Ottolini sold his first high-end silk scarves and handbags, inspired by his colorful stained-glass work, through his Charles Ottolini Fashions and Accessories website in October and will bring the bright accessories to retail boutique locations within the next few months.

Though he is still doing commissioned stained-glass pieces for churches, businesses and houses, he wants to take his fashion accessories to Knoxville Fashion Week (www.Knoxvillefashion week.com) later this spring in hopes of changing his image a bit.

"I am more well-known as a stained-glass artist or sign designer," Ottolini said. "This will be a chance for people to meet me as a fashion designer and change the way people look at me as an artist."

Transferring his colorful stained-glass designs to silk scarves has been an idea of Ottolini's since 1992 when he went to a Henri Matisse retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

In the gift shop, he saw several silk scarves with Matisse's colorful paintings on them. Ottolini was impressed with how the silk took the colors.

He thought his stained glass would look great on silk someday.

Relationships, kids, soccer practices and his stained-glass business caused the silk scarves to fall to the back burner, though.

However, stained glass is an important part of the story of Ottolini, the fashion designer, he said.

"I didn't just decide to design scarves," Ottolini said. "I have been designing for 30 years. I've spent an extensive amount of time honing my skills as a designer. Stained glass gives me some credibility as a designer."

Growing up in Newark, Del., he never thought about becoming an artist. His church didn't even have stained glass.

He started college as a biology major at the University

of Delaware but dropped out to work for DuPont. Finally, he decided to go into advertising and design.

He began his career as a stained-glass artist as a 20-year-old at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., and then, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

While at Ringling, he learned he had an affinity for color.

A Floridea museum exhibit of Tiffany stained-glass windows and ornate lamps showed him what he could do with color.

"I went and saw that and my life changed," Ottolini said. "I thought, 'Woah, this is color.' I was captivated and I wanted to learn the trade."

He learned the trade at stained-glass studios in Philadelphia and then, as an apprentice in North Carolina before moving to Sevierville to open a studio.

People can see his custom work in First Baptist Church of Knoxville, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge and many other churches and homes.

"The cool thing about stained glass is it's very kinetic," Ottolini said. "The colors don't stay the same."

He hopes to bring the same movement to his scarves and handbags.

In August 2010, he finally acted on his idea of printing scarves. With the struggling economy, he wanted to be more flexible in his artwork.

He painted three designs and used one directly from a stained-glass window. He sent them to a silk printer in Raleigh, N.C.

"A lot of designs are done on computers now," Ottolini said. "Mine are all hand-painted or are stained glass."

His first samples arrived in February 2011 and he had them critiqued by a "women's advisory council" made up of about six Knoxville women.

He tried to come up with a catchy name for his fashion design company but decided to stick with Charles Ottolini after noticing all the famous designers — Ralph Lauren, Donna Karen, Michael Kors — just used their names.

His tagline is "inspirations of light and color."

Each of his four designs has five color variations. They are all floral, and he plans for his next line to be more geometric and contemporary.

"Now, we're working for spring and Valentine's Day, Knoxville Fashion Week, Easter, Mother's Day," Ottolini said. "There are a lot of holidays coming up where you might want to buy a scarf for someone."

He also hopes to do beachwear to experiment with color even further.

To view Ottolini's accessories, visit http://charle sottolini.com or www.facebook.com/CharlesOttolini.