Blowin’

Cedar City artist blows glass

By KELLEN JONES
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

When the first thing one reads when entering a store says, “Shoplifting is a crime, keep your Karma clean,” one knows he or she is in the right place.
Grant Biedermann’s store and glass blowing hobby were both started and pursued, he said, in hopes of educating the uneducated. This education is different from an institutional education.
Gunjah, an Indian name for the Sativa hemp plant, often confused with Ganja (Sativa’s cousin, marijuana), is also the name of Biedermann’s store.
The tunes of Ziggy Marley play underneath a discussion with Biedermann. Biedermann, owner of the store, said his goals for the store are friendship, knowledge and truth.
“I just wanted to start something where right-minded individuals like me can interact with other right-minded individuals,” he said. “I want to act as a missionary of knowledge and truth. My costumers become my friends, and their presence and interaction brings me inspiration.”
Biedermann said he got the name for his store off of an Indian tribal Web site. At the same time, he said he began apprenticing in glassblowing.
Glassblowing is a talent that Biedermann has developed quickly.
In the back room of Gunjah are displayed many of Biedermann’s fine wrist pieces.
“Everyone that I know that uses his glass is more than satisfied, it is better than anything they have ever tried,” said John Kovalenko, a freshman music major from Provo and regular at Gunjah.
Biedermann said he used to spend seven days a week in his glass shop on the industrial side of town making and mastering his glass art. However, since his divorce he said he has had to spend a lot of time at the store, limiting his time to produce the usual amount of glass products.
Biedermann said he refuses to give up one or the other because both hobbies are enough to sacrifice his time to keep the two running.
His glass pieces generally take him from five minutes to three weeks. It’s all about concept, technique, surface and shape, he said. The pieces are glass pipes, and sell on average for $27.
These pipes, Biedermann said, can be used for anyone’s favorite herb. He said he believes herbal is the way to go.
He said he fully understands and supports anti-tobacco campaigns because tobacco is the leading cause of death in America today, and said he hopes to turn people on to other herbs.
“(Tobacco) kills more people than car wrecks or heart attacks; there is better stuff out there,” he said.
There are only nine states that allow Marijuana to be used formedical purposes, but Biedermann said he and many like him are trying to make Utah the 10th. He said he has hundreds of friends who have used it for medical purposes.
Until that time though, there are other smokes that do almost