Meet Ali Gibbs, Cosanti Originals Arcosanti Foundry Manager. Ali was born and raised in Massachusetts and moved to Arizona 7 years ago to work in the Arcosanti Cafe after graduating from Hampshire College. They went to Hampshire College, where they studied education, agriculture, and design.
Ali found out about Cosanti Originals through the Arcosanti workshop program. They took off a semester of field study during college to take an Arcosanti workshop and volunteer on-site for a couple of months. The workshop program gets an immersion day in the foundry at Arcosanti, and they were fascinated by the sand casting process. They knew then that they wanted to apply for a job in the foundry so they could learn all about sand casting!
Now, as the Arcosanti Foundry Manager at Cosanti Originals, Ali's days are filled with making art with their friends. "It's a more complex and nuanced job than that—if you distill working in the Arcosanti Foundry down to its essence, what you get is making art with my friends every day—but if there's anything better than that," says Ali.
Ali's designs have become cleaner and more streamlined over time - they been using the same tools for 6.5 years, so they know now exactly what they can produce with them. They used to use a lot of embellishments on their designs, and they moved now to their signature 2 dots on most bells. Keep an eye out for the two dots on your bells and you might have an original Ali Gibbs!
