About
Kip Glover – Designer
Hello and thank you for visiting my web site.
I am a fine artist based in Santa Barbara on the California Central Coast. I am dedicated to creating one-of-a-kind functional fine art pieces.
My love of art surfaced when I was in grade school, but gained direction when I turned 18 and became immersed in building architectural models at a design firm in Stockholm, Sweden. This two-week apprenticeship was part of a year-long high school exchange program spent in the beautiful architectural landscape of Stockholm and within the rich design culture of Scandinavia. It opened my eyes to an innovative world of architectural materials and design and launched me in my passion to develop skills I have been refining to this day. I can remember the excitement of creating wonderful wooden models in the firm’s design workshop and being captivated by the quality and detail of each piece and by an awakening sense of my own creative potential. Working with my hands to create a finished model, which was both beautiful and precise, has influenced my artistic sensibility ever since.
The idyllic hours I spent wandering the boulevards and looking out from train windows through rural and suburban areas and into the city centers of downtown Stockholm inspired in me a deep appreciation for the Scandinavian aesthetic and lifestyle. My visits to the adjacent archipelago and the village communities where my host family summered, enhanced my admiration for quality, hand-built designs, evident in their homes and way of life, where self-sufficiency was required and helped to yield an exquisite and unique artistic point of view.
My life journey has been quite diverse with many delightful twists and turns. Growing up in a wonderful small town in Southern Illinois, my professional pursuits started as a 10 year-old working at the local Dairy Queen making Dilly Bars and other treats on the weekends. Over the years I enjoyed a multitude of wide-ranging adventures. From – working on the Viking Line (Ferry Line between Stockholm and Finland), to learning the layout of greater Los Angeles by delivering beverages and gift baskets from Beverly Hills to movie studios, celebrity homes and businesses, to working as a ski lift operator at Mammoth Mountain in the California Sierras, to working at a salmon cannery on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, to working as a retail baker in Kenai, Alaska, to working as a cook and baker on a Kenai Peninsula offshore oil platform, to working at renown Michael Roberts restaurant in West Hollywood, to General Manager of a Two Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills fine dining nightclub, to restaurant and design consultant for the iconic 1930 art deco Hotel Borg renovation in Reykjavik, Iceland, to new product development consultant work with the founder of Colorforms toy company, and other hospitality and design positions along the way, in addition to the separate positions stated in the next paragraph.
Later, in my 20s, 30s and 40s, I was immersed in professional endeavors and assumed many roles in several related fields, such as hospitality management and development, which included opening and managing Hard Rock Café properties in the United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas) and Europe (Reykjavik, Iceland), including producing corporate operating procedures; project management, competitive research, and quality assurance services for Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts (including the review of 75+ national 4-5 star hotel and spa properties); and marketing, graphic design and business development services within the architectural and interior design industry.
Over my lifetime I’ve thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in many creative design venues, several listed above, with a multitude of additional areas such as – restaurant design, memorabilia installation, themed merchandise display case design, menu design, holiday installation design, Disney Imagineering support services, Colorforms new product development, floral design, residential space planning, residential procurement services, art installation services, professional organizing services, and ongoing graphic design for my various businesses.
Additional more recent professional pursuits include the launch of my Santa Barbara Senior Relocation Services (SRS) in 2012 after seeing the need to help seniors whom were journeying through difficult transitions on their own – which started with my father’s successful relocation. SRS has been dedicated to serving Seniors and others in transition with concierge move management services, whether moving locally, regionally, or nationally – from customized floor planning, downsizing, professional packing, move day coordination, full move-in & setup services, purchasing services, estate liquidation services, home closure and home sale preparation services.
Having experienced many of my senior clients over the years needing strategic help with their real estate needs – typically needing to sell their home, I launched my Senior Real Estate Services in 2019. Being a credentialed Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES®), and a Senior Move Manager, I thoroughly understand the sensitivities and overwhelm that can be present in a lifestyle transition. Understanding that buying and selling can be a stressful event, I pride myself in guiding clients respectfully and seamlessly through their real estate transaction, thus ultimately providing security and peace of mind to clients and their loved ones.
I have enjoyed a lifelong love of architecture, design, and art. Having lived throughout the U.S. and abroad (Sweden & Iceland) in design rich cultures, and working directly with prominent architects and interior designers, I have been well exposed to a wide range of architecture, interior design, and art, and subsequently have further developed my own keen sense of design over the years.
Still the creative muse always drew me back through my desire to create beautiful objects from wood which were architecturally elegant and provocative. In following the impulse to express myself creatively through mediums I am drawn to, I have gained an authentic sense of who I am artistically.
In 2010-2011 I was fortunate to be accepted into The Krenov School Fine Woodworking Program (in Fort Bragg, CA), which is widely regarded as one of the premier woodworking schools in the United States. This intensive 9-month program was really the start of my more serious and passionate woodworking interests. As a student, I was encouraged to discover and explore the intimate relationship that exists between the wood, the tools, and the details of fine furniture. Immersing myself in woodworking 6 days a week for 9 months with gifted instructors and fellow students sharing my same passion was a dream come true.
I love to incorporate unique hardware, glass, acrylic, and found objects in my design projects and commissions. I am enamored by the sensuality of color and finish and the variation of textures I search out in the materials I choose to work with, and I strive to create refined pieces that express both beauty and grace. The breadth of ideas that can find enhanced expression through wood art is really staggering. The only limit I have is with my own powers of imagination. Connecting attentively to the artistic process is a profound experience, one which opens my mind and my heart.
Thank you for your interest in my work.