Throughout his life, David Walker has followed his heart and walked an unconventional path. While attending college David took a side job making production work for a local glassblower. Little did he know that what started as a part time gig would turn into a four-year apprenticeship and a lifelong passion.
After finishing school, David relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida and co-founded Zen Glass Studios in 2002.
David actively creates new glass work which often reflects his love for the natural world, his love for his children and occasionally a touch of politics instilled from growing up in Washington, DC. David’s work has evolved into an installation scale and along with his Zen Glass team, David has been moving his work more into the public sphere.
Along with glass making, David also actively teaches in the community. David’s classes are open to both public and professionals alike. He has also taught through local institutions such as Eckerd College. Active in the St. Petersburg Chamber’s Leadership St. Pete program and the Warehouse Arts District, David seeks to make the world a beautiful place through both his art and actions.
- Along with glass making, David also actively teaches in the community.
- David’s classes are open to both public and professionals alike.
- He has also taught through local institutions such as Eckerd College.
- Active in the St. Petersburg Chamber’s Leadership St. Pete program and the Warehouse Arts District, David seeks to make the world a beautiful place through both his art and actions.
TESTIMONIALS
zen is an amazing place 2 become an artist or just look @ some amazing glass. DAVE & Josh are super skilled and knowledgeable.
Absolutely, I had a great time. planning a group to return. Didn’t know what to expect, this totally exceeded anything I thought.
Met some cool people at the show in Miami got the big coin from Josh aka Jash. And what a good bunch of salesman Zen had there. Makes me want to learn how to blow glass. Thanks, Josh and Zen btw thanks Jb and thank your girlfriend for the lil cupcake
My sister and I made wine glasses.
All the staff were so welcoming and informative. They made sure we had a good experience and made a successful project.
So much fun!
We definitely plan to come take another workshop! Cheers!
best glass studio in southeast
Enjoyed making my wine glass stem, was a little nervous at first but David was an awesome instructor. Will be doing another work shop
Best family fun experience! Austin and Josh were amazing to work with. Thanks Guys!
Had a totally awesome time. They were great. We plan to go back for more classes!!! Everyone should try this. Zen Studio rocks!!!!
We attended a wineglass workshop and had a great time. Everyone was very helpful and patient with us while we were figuring things out and soaking in all of the information. It made for a unique and fun girls afternoon out! Looking forward to a “cheers” with our new stemware!
Had a fantastic time making my our beer glass. Looking forward to taking classes
My friend and I attended a class today. We had such a great time. David was an excellent teacher. He was very personable and made it so fun! We will definitely be back!
Awesome experience! Josh and Austin were great. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.
Great place to hang out and melt. I took my wife there for veterans night and she had a blast!!!
If you haven’t already, check it out!
Fantastic experience with Josh Poll. Would highly recommend it! Can’t wait to see my piece.
Thanks so much to Christian for making the ornament workshop so easy! They have some fabulous works of art in their gallery and the service is superb! Can’t wait to see how our hand blown ornaments came out. I’m grateful to Christian for explaining how the color combos might look. Will be back!
We had a great time today making our own martini glasses. The owners were friendly and very knowledgeable, so the whole experience was a lot of fun. They also have really nice pieces for sale to accentuate your home. We’d highly recommend going there to anyone looking for something fun and different to do!
My cousin Josh is amazing at glass work. Definitely hit him up! 🙂
We had such a great time would love to do more great teacher
this place will literally changer your life for the better 🙂
Great time!
zen is an amzing place 2 become an artist or just look @ some amazing glass . DAVE & Josh are super skilled and knowledgeable .
My mother and I took a class with Katy, it was awesome! Thanks Katy!
It was an awesome experience. Being that it was my first time I was a little nervous. But luck was on my side because we had Austin helping us and explaining every step of the wonderful process. I was supper happy with my wine glass and so were my friends! Austin rocks !!! Give it a try …. you will not regret this amazing experience ❤️🍷
Lots of fun and easy to do. Great teachers, I highly recommend anyone that has any interest in trying this, go for it, you won’t be disappointed .
best place in florida to learn glass working
wicked fun and entertaining,
Very friendly, helpful people. Most interesting and we had a great time! Would recommend it as a great addition to your Florida vacation!
Had a great time celebrating my other sister birthday! I highly recommend it and appreciate all of the team. Great gift shop for a unique gift.
Everyone there is friendly and helpful. Love that I get to create something with my bare hands 🥰🥰🥰 its fun
AWESOME! So fun and great teaching by Josh and Co
Very fun experience. Definitely makes you appreciate the custom glassware you see.
Great personalized experience. I learned a lot and had a blast. Josh is customer focused, witty and a pleasure to be coached by. I’ll be sharing and encouraging others to signup.
Had a great time with hubby and friends, thanks Austin!
My 14 year old daughter has a hobby interest idea, and I am trying to help feed that idea/passion. Joshua was extremely helpful and informative. She will be back.
Absolutely incredible experience!!! So perfect for date night or company team building…so much fun!!
A great family environment!! Excellent food!! If you looking for great environment and food I would absolutely recommend Zen great restaurant!!
My daughter got to work w glass!! So wonderful!!!
I spent a few minutes with Josh telling him my background and what I wanted to get from the class. He took me through a few ‘basics’ and I was off and running. Fantastic experience and I look forward to coming back the next time I’m in town.
Great place to take a glass class and a great place to teach one. Some very kind professional people host a myriad of glass opportunities. I will be back!
Josh is a great instructor! He took his time with us and made the session fun. Definitely recommend him and his studio. I have a new found respect for this art. It’s amazing!
Great time with a group of 14!
What an awesome experience. I would highly recommend this to anyone. So friendly and relaxed. Thank you for a wonderful experience (~);}
We had a great knowledgable instructor
OHHHHHH my Gosh, such and amazing experience. Austin, Dave and the other artists were so incredibly awesome!!! This is some things I recommend doing more then once.
I had a great time with u guys!
Great class nice people, hope to see you soon again !! From Puerto Rico ✌
Lots of fun trying something new. New appreciation for glass blowing!! Awesome time and cool teachers that make it easier and you can’t do anything wrong.
We had a great time at the studio! They were patient with us and let us get as creative as we could. Definitely coming back!
We had a great time today. Staff was incredible and helpful! Thanks
Took a chance on a Groupon for our first visit. Enjoyed it so much we went back a second time. Staff/instructors were really attentive. A fun experience. Highly recommend.
Josh Poll & David Walker did such an awesome job in honoring my brother! Had some beautiful pendants & a pocket piece made with cremations & some outstanding paper weights too. Can’t put into words what it feels like to have & only know I have felt a definite peace.
Austin was so patient and fun. My mom wasn’t to sure about what we were doing but he put her at ease. We had a blast and made a great memory!!! Thanks Austin!!!
Austin is a person who is real to the teaching of …” people listen and watch … !”
it was informative and exciting..
Austin was fun and attentive..!
I am attending another appointment..!
It was so much fun.. My husband and I had a great time
My boyfriend and I had an amazing date night here! It was so fun. Such a different and exciting date.
My wife and I participated in a pendant workshop on October 15, 2016 with instructor, Katy. It was fun to learn how glass pendants are made and to try to make a few pendants. We were able to practice with combining different colors of glass and also trying to make different shapes. Katy was great as an instructor! I have a lot of respect for the process of glass making.
Bought a session through Groupon, had a great time…I think we might go back!
everyone there is friendly and helpful. Love that I get to create something with my bare hands ??? its fun
Hard working vision within the craft of art. And dedicated to the community.
Austin was a very good teacher and funny. Had a fun and great experience and going to go back to make some more works of art.
Such a fun afternoon! Highly recommend!!
Fabulous time, unbelievable great experience! Will definitely be taking another class.
Just went to this studio because I had seen an event advertised called nude night. We were expecting artists, a glass blowing demonstration, body paint, and figure model sketching. When we arrived for the event two friendly gregarious staff members greeted us with the unfortunate news that the event had been cancelled. We were disappointed to miss what we had expected, but the friendly lady with blue hair and her jovial coworker were so welcoming and fun we had a good time anyways!
If you are looking for something unique and fun to do for a few hours this was a fun experience.
Would highly recommend.
Had a great experience with the staff making champagne flute glasses that we plan to use in our upcoming wedding. Will be going back again!
Awesome place!! Great teachers!!
Great fun place to learn about working with glass
Absolutely had the best time making our own pipes! He said that was the most fun he’d had on a birthday! We most definitely will be back!!!
Today my work partner in crime and I took our amazing customer service team for a class on pendant and bead making – they had so much fun! Josh & team were so patient with the 4 of us and really let us experiment and explore the artists inside. I was proud of both our girls – Karin and I need more practice heehee. This was 100% an awesome time and highly recommend it!!!
Very “cool” actually HOT!!!
Zen glass is an amazing place. My friends and myself went on Saturday and had a blast. Katy and the staff were friendly and very informative. We did the make your own wine glass. Also if you have a chance check out their gallery of work. All of their pieces are simply stunning. I can’t wait to come back.
Austin was AWSOME! We had a blast making wine glasses – so much we signed up for another workshop the following week. I highly recommend this class!
Jill, Wes and Jasmine
zen is an amzing place 2 become an ar7is7 or jus look @ some amazing glass . DAVE @ Josh are super skilled and knowledgable .
Super fun!!! The guys were patient with us and very helpful.
So much fun!! And they were so very patient with us. I highly recommend their workshops!
A great place for a cool weekend activity! We had a blast!!
Very friendly . Helpful. Awesome studio.
Great classes!! Great people.I love going here one of my favorites.
Great experience. Austin was FANTASTIC! We just finished less than an hour ago so pics have yet been posted. Highly recommend.
Awesome! Did the make your own wine glass, can’t wait to see how it turns out! Had a great time!!
Great introduction to making glass! Staff was very welcoming.
My husband and I had a great experience at a wine glass workshop today with Austin. Great way to experience something new and cool on a Sunday afternoon. Our wine glasses are so unique and we can’t wait to drink out of them. Thanks Austin! We will recommend you to all our friends.
Awesome! Hubby and I had so much fun playing with glass and fire. Katie was the best with helping us create our glasses. Thank you for offering the workshop.
Feel right at home here…long live zen glass studios
Perfect name for this amazing space! Knowledgeable, kind, and fun folks just enjoying everything glass. Check them out, you’ll be happy you did.
Thanks for accomodating our crazy group today! We had a blast and will be back!!
Awesome!!!!
My husband loved it!!!
Kind hearted education. Welcoming and all around awesome people, hope to spend more time there, so much to learn!
Took my boyfriend here for his birthday, awesome experience the instructors were all great, they checked in and were able to guide you in the right direction. I would definitely recommend going here if your looking for something fun and unique.
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We had an awesome experience making crag beer glasses today, wonderful way to zen out.
Thank you Austin!! We really had fun today!!
Great fun. Instructors have a good sense of humor and patience galore!
Great atmosphere and very friendly instructors. Much more fun than we thought we were going to have. Thanks Austin!
Amazing fun!! Had an great time with friends
The person that helped us was awesome, patient, funny and nice. Definitely will be coming back
Everybody was so nice and helpful. Had a blast. Everybody should try this at least once!
It was a wonderful experience that we be going back to make more.
I did the make your own wine glass workshop for my birthday, and it was by far the most amazing experience I have had. Austin is an amazing instructor I will definitelybe going back. Thank You!!
Just Awesome Thank you to our Teacher Josh my Wife and I Had a Great time.
GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL STUDIO…………..
Me an my wife had a blast!??
For two ladies with introverted testing anxiety the Beginner’s Pendant workshop was absolutely wonderful Austin was a great help, always full of bounce and positive encouragement! Thank you for helping our belated birthday celebration go so smoothly!
We had a great experience at Zen Glass! Josh was friendly and patient with us, talking us through the process. We can’t wait to go back! Highly recommend this as a fun activity, date night, birthday celebration, etc! We had no experience at all and we enjoyed ourselves!
The best places in the state for classes, camaraderie, and overall good glass vibes. Knowledgeable, friendly staff and a plenty of bench space. They also have a wonderful gallery full of beautiful work from tons of artists. Zen Glass really is a jewel of Florida.
The class was Lots of fun.
This was so fun! Austin was great and took so much time with us. I can’t wait to come back and do it again.
Thanks to KATY and JOSH for making my birthday weekend simply wonderful by going the extra mile!
Mike &Jozette Spina
We had a blast at the studio. Highly recommend taking a glass blowing class.
definitely recommend for a day out. nice date idea. staff was helpful and sociable! 🙂
Great vibe love glass art and they are very helpful def will be back
The owners are wonderful and love teaching.
This was such a fun glass. I had a great date day! and our glasses came out great! thank you Austin for making our day enjoyable. definitely coming back! Austin was a great instructor.
GREAT TIME. Would do it again in a heartbeat! Great way to learn the art
Amazing experience! I don’t think it’s possible to have a bad time here
Amazing people and atmosphere! If you love glass definitely go check out Zen!
Great group of people! Awesome experience!
This was on my husband’s bucket list…super cool experience!!! Definitely recommend & will do again!
Josh is my wife’s cousin. Amazing man & an amazing artist.
We had such a great time, I definitely want to come back and do more!
Place is simply awesome! Great people over there!!
my wife and I had an excellent time creating our own wine glasses! I highly recommend attending one of their classes, great atmosphere with friendly down to earth people.
Christian is amazing! My boyfriend and I did the valentines deal and we loved it! We made pint glasses. Can’t wait to pick them up Monday! I would suggest this place to everyone. It’s amazing.
We had a great experience here making some wine glasses.
Something fun and unique to do with the Besties ❤️ The owner and the workers are very helpful?
We had such an amazing time at Zen glass studio!! Josh was patient and helpful! We will definitely be back!
So much fun! What a wonderful gift for you to have blessed Mother’s Day with! We enjoyed it very much and plan to return again in the future! Thank you!
What an awesome place, with a super low key, but awesome time!
Awesome workshop and great instruction. Me and my wife loved it.
zen is an amazing place 2 become an artist or just look @ some amazing glass. DAVE & Josh are super skilled and knowledgeable.
Absolutely wonderful place to see and try something new! Our family of four had a great experience and would do it again in a heartbeat! My wife and I made wine glasses and our children made their own abstract art. We couldn’t have had a better time! Thank you Dave for an amazing afternoon! We will see you the next time we’re in Florida!
I went for the wine glass workshop and had a great time. I was solo so I had Josh’s full attention. I created a glass that I will enjoy for many years to come. I also bought a beautiful necklace for my mom’s birthday.
Austin was amazing and very helpful. He made the class so much fun. We will definitely return for another
Awesome night at Zen studios ~ the instructors were kind & very helpful. We’ll definitely be going back! 5*!!!
The class was Lots of fun. 😊
Cool place…loved seeing how they blow glass up close
Highly reccomend this place. Our instructor Dave made it very fun and relaxed. He was very eager to help and answer all our question and gave us enough space to have fun and be silly while providing a safe environment.
What a great experience! The guys working there were super kind! Highly recommend!!
Had such a blast! Staff was friendly! Got awesome one-of-a-kind wine glasses out of it!
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If you are itching for an adventure, look no further! I cannot say enough positive things about this experience. Josh went above and beyond to endure that we felt safe with social distancing, plenty of sanitizer and plexiglass between stations. He is very knowledgeable of his craft and helped us create exactly what we wanted. Already looking forward to our next trip
zen is an amzing place 2 become an ar7is7 or jus look @ some amazing glass . DAVE @ Josh are super skilled and knowledgable .
Lots of fun,people friendly and helpful want to do it again
Awesome Place,Great People, I totally enjoyed meeting everyone there.
Awesome Place to learn Glass Blowing.
It was an awesome experience. Being that it was my first time I was a little nervous. But luck was on my side because we had Austin helping us and explaining every step of the wonderful process. I was supper happy with my wine glass and so were my friends! Austin rocks !!! Give it a try …. you will not regret this amazing experience ❤️?
What a freaking blast! My mom bought this experience on Groupon for us (group of 4) and we had so much fun making the stems of our wine glasses! Austin was patient, super helpful, and did an excellent job not only explaining what we should be doing but also entertaining us. 10/10 would go again.
Me an my wife had a blast!👍🏻
Josh was amazing. very relatable and welcoming from the minute we got there. it was a surprise for me so kinda didn’t know what to do, but he explained and gave us examples and really made it a memory for us. looking forward to our next visit already.
Our family had so much fun creating our Glass
Our instructors were great!!
We took our teenage boys ~ the whole family had a great time
Thanks for some rainy day fun!!