In a quiet corner of her studio, sunlight dances on glass, refracting, shimmering, alive. Each polished curve, each translucent hue seems to breathe with its own light. For Filipina artist Marge Organo, this glow isn’t just a reflection of her craft — it’s a reflection of her journey.

“I started at 55,” she says with an easy laugh, her voice warm but firm. “At that age, people usually retire. But I decided to begin.”

For decades, Organo built her life around family and business, managing a pharmaceutical company and raising her children. Art, though, was always there — a quiet longing that waited for its moment. “As a child, I was already doing artwork,” she recalls. “But back then, in the province, we were raised to become doctors, engineers, lawyers — never artists.”

When the time came and her children had finished school, she decided it was finally her turn. “The business was running on its own,” she shares. “So I thought, maybe it’s time to pursue what I’ve always wanted.”

The spark of glass

Organo began with painting workshops, which led to sculpture classes — first in clay, then in something far more challenging: glass. What started as curiosity evolved into a lifelong passion. “I’ve always been attracted to brilliant, shiny objects,” she says. “When I started, there was only one glass sculptor in the Philippines. So I thought, maybe I can try this, too.”

True to her do-it-yourself spirit, Organo enrolled at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York — one of the most prestigious glassmaking schools in the world. She was 56. “At first, I just wanted to make decorations for my house,” she laughs. “It wasn’t meant to be professional. But when people saw my work, they were amazed. It was something they hadn’t seen before.”

Her glass sculptures, made through cold working and lamination instead of traditional glass blowing, shimmer with distinct clarity and emotion. Unlike blown glass, which is hollow and airy, her pieces are carved from solid optical glass — a painstaking process of cutting, grinding, and polishing. “It’s like working with wood,” she explains. “You shape, carve, and smooth until the form reveals itself.”