Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Blown Away’ is an incredible series wherein a group of artisans from all across the globe come together to compete in a glass-blowing reality competition to win an artist’s residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, a hefty prize, and a lifetime of bragging rights. Hosted by online personality Nick Uhas, with renowned glass designer Katherine Gray as the resident judge, ‘Blown Away’ gives us a look inside the complicated, challenging, and yet beautiful world of glass art.
Blowing Away Filming Location
After the entertainment industry decided that a reality competition series can be about pretty much anything, we got shows like ‘Ink Master’ (for tattoos), ‘Skin Wars’ (for body paint), and ‘Holey Moley’ (for mini-golf). But now, with ‘Blown Away’ becoming the world’s first production about glass-blowing, we know for a fact that they weren’t wrong. And now, if you, like us, are curious to know precisely where the filming of this heated program, all pun intended, took place, we’ve got you covered.
Ontario, Canada
In the words of host Nick Uhas, ‘Blown Away’ is filmed in “North America’s largest Hot Shop.” But we’ll be honest, while that may be true, it is not actually real – not for commercial, day-to-day use anyway. In fact, this Hot Shop, located in the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, was just an abandoned warehouse up until the point it was found and converted to become a place for ten glass-blowers to safely work in by the show’s production company, Marblemedia. Thus, it also ended up being the only place where all the show’s drama, suspense, and work takes place. Hamilton is about an hour’s drive from Toronto, in the southwest direction.
To ensure that everything in the Hot Shop was safe, easy to use, and yet pleasing to the eye, Marblemedia roped in Toronto’s Sheridan College’s Craft and Design Glass Studio team to help conceptualize, custom-design, and develop the warehouse. Therefore, after being transformed into a place with ten reheating furnaces, two glass-melting furnaces, and a studio space, this warehouse, located on Imperial Street, is indeed the largest glass-blowing shop in North America. We should also mention that the students of Sheridan College appear on the show as assistants to the competitors so as to attain first-hand experience in their industry.
When the filming of ‘Blown Away’ takes place, the town of Hamilton also serves as a temporary home for the entire cast and crew of the show, with everyone residing in a nearby hotel.
Read More: Blown Away’s Host: Everything We Know
