![]() Some people prefer to go through life looking through rose colored glasses. “We had to widen our doorways to get his head through,” his wife said. Starting as a simple glass cutter and coming to this point in his creative ability surely must give Peter an ego boost. The mirrors are totally different from other scopes,” Peter said. “The image that you see looks like a ball that is broken up into little triangles. Now the teleidoscope sits in the reception area of an office, off limits to most, but a spectacular piece sure to be enjoyed by all who are fortunate enough to take in the view of the East River, the towering surrounding buildings and the street below. The result is a kaleidoscopic vision of whatever the instrument is pointed at. A teleidoscope works on the same principal as a kaleidoscope, which has colored material lying between two pieces of glass and two or more mirrors, except it does not contain the color-producing bits of glass. He designed it, cut a model out of paper and it was approved. That is until he woke up at three o’clock one morning with an idea. The World Trade Center project A New York architect, who had seen their work in a gallery, contacted the De Mattias about creating an Art Deco-style teleidoscope for an international banking firm located in 7 World Trade Center. A dealer in Japan purchased over 3,000 of their hand-held glass tube scopes, another innovation by the De Mattias. One of their kaleidoscopes is on display in Harrods, England’s upscale department store. Currently their designs are selling nationally and internationally. ![]() Their pieces are sold only wholesale through dealers. As their business took off they began to show their work at high-end galleries and art shows and continue to do so, but at a slower pace. “He can’t make a scope without me and I can’t make a scope without him,” she said. He cuts the glass, inserts the mirrors and fills the tube she foils, solders and attaches the end tube. They both work on design, but Pete makes it come to life, his wife said. A grenade, a sewer pipe, a pistol, any bottle or can, motorcycle parts - nothing seems off limits. They make jewelry, business cards, wedding invitations, and free-form pieces from scrap they collect. Starting small and working together Their first endeavor, a necklace, was an enormous hit, selling over 1000 pieces. Fast forward 19 years and you’ll find Peter installing one of his privately commissioned works of art, a teleidoscope, on the top floor of the new 7 World Trade Center building in New York City. Sometimes the lack of knowledge is a good thing. Looking back, they realize that they enjoyed an innovative freedom because they were novices and unaware that some of their new kaleidoscope designs had never been done before. He took to it like a duck to water and they began to put their new found talents to use creating kaleidoscopes. Skeeter chose this time to teach her husband how to cut glass. Skeeter and Peter De Mattia, both 65, married in 1964 and moved to Upper Greenwood Lake in West Milford in 1968. West Milford Twenty years ago, when Skeeter De Mattia signed up for a night class to study stained glass techniques, she probably could not have imagined how that knowledge would change her life.
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