Arny Weinstein

Arny Weinstein

 “It seems I like to design and create things. Be it computer software applications, furniture, or now kaleidoscopes, it occupies much of my thoughts and time”, are the words of Arny Weinstein.

 

Arny was raised in the suburbs just north of New York City, and graduated from the State University of New York at Albany where he studied Business Administration and Computer Science.  After many years working in the computer field, he felt it was time for a change, preferably to something that would allow for more creative freedom. This coincided with his discovery of, and subsequent growing passion for, kaleidoscopes. 

 

While on vacation in Sedona, Arizona in 1999, Arny wandered into a small gallery.  He was not aware of the world of fine kaleidoscopes.  There was a table of scopes from a local artist which he decided to look into.  His expressions were:  “Whoa….man…I like this...ooo…cool…yeah”, and the next thing he knew he owned his first two kaleidoscopes.  Later, back at his office, he found himself thinking more about scopes than his work.  

 

He worked in the computer field for about 20 years, quitting in late 2000 to pursue creating kaleidoscopes full time.  While not that into technology in general, he did enjoy designing and developing software applications.  He feels many of the qualities he enjoyed about software development carry over to designing and creating kaleidoscopes.

 

Having had a long time hobby of woodworking it was only natural that his designs would be in wood. After lots of research and studies, he set up a studio in the basement of his home in Yonkers New York and embarked on his own kaleidoscope venture.  His first scope was "unveiled" at the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society convention held in San Diego in May of 2001. 

 

Now he creates hundreds of scopes a year, all individually handcrafted, selling them at prestigious crafts fairs and more than 70 stores across the country and in Japan.  His scopes are works of art both internally and externally.  Externally his scopes resemble modern wood sculptures, hand sculpted from exotic and native hardwoods like birdseye maple, bubinga, bloodwood, peruvian walnut, cherry, and mahogany.  Internally his scopes feature interesting images, many 3-dimensional, formed by viewing lampworked glass beads in dazzling colors floating in liquid-filled object cases.

 

Arny says, “Kaleidoscopes speak a universal language, understood by people young and old, of any culture, like visual music. Escaping into the colorful, ever-changing images of a kaleidoscope can be calming and energizing, joyful and healing”.

 

 His future plans include experimenting with different mirror systems and creating a variety of unique and satisfying designs so all can share the joy and magic of his kaleidoscopes for years to come.

 

 

View Arny Weinstein scopes.

View the Arny Weinstein Contact Page.

View the Arny Weinstein - A. W. Scopes website.