Matthew Urban began his career in art at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia as an industrial design student. The design field was where his first inspirations for glass came from. Intrigued by the multitudes of designs produced in glass from Italy from 1920 to 1962, he began to research the designers, architects, and sculptors from this distinctive time period. One semester he took an elective class in glassblowing and he soon changed majors from industrial design to glass. That following summer he recieved a scholarship to the Corning Museum of Glass to study with Maestro Gianni Toso and decided to make glassmaking his life. Matthew Urban has studied and worked around the world with numerous master glass makers specifically from Murano Italy.

 

These interactions have had a profound on Matthew’s approach of glassmaking and appreciation for the history of glass. In May 2007 completed his Masters Degree at Illinois State University in Glass/Sculpture, in 2010 he completed building his artist studio. Matthew's studio has ultra low carbon footprint in addition he uses 100% recycled glass for all his designs and sculpture.