RICHMOND, Va. -- If you visit Uptown Neon in Richmond, remember to look up, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything like it.
From instruments to animals, Chloe Kottwitz calls the creations her neon clouds.
This collection along Cary Street doesn’t make up a museum. Kottwitz owns and operates Uptown Neon.
"A neon bender is someone who makes neon signs," Uptown Neon owner Chloe Kottwitz said.
Kottwitz has a burning desire to succeed bending day and night.
Her hands-on workspace is half laboratory and half art studio.
“Each piece of neon is a glass sculpture,” she said. ”Neon lighting is glass tubing filled with either neon or argon."
It is a passion and profession all in one.
”I’m just lucky to love what I’m doing,” she said.
Kottwitz bought the shop from her mentor Doug Solyan in April.
”I’m about two years into this,” she said. “This place is just innately him. Every corner is him.”
Solyan opened Uptown Neon 35 years ago, 11 years ‘before’ Chloe Kottwitz was born.
While Solyan was considered a legend of light, his mentor Louis "Mr. Neon" Rudd was responsible for many of Richmond’s most iconic neon signs.
“Mr. Rudd taught himself how to bend as soon as neon started to become a thing,” Kottwitz said.
It was Rudd who shaped Solyan's career.
Solyan shared his neon knowledge with Kottwitz, the young art school graduate from New York, before he passed away in February 2021.
“I got to have the training wheels on for a bit. Then to pass it on to me was pretty seamless,” she said. “His passion for his craft is exactly why I’m here.”
The apprenticeship changed the arc of Kottwitz’s career.
Deb Solyan said she was comforted knowing her late husband’s legacy has illuminated Chloe Kottwitz,’s path.
"I think Doug would be very proud of her," Deb Solyan said. "So he was ready to find someone who was as interested in the neon and I don’t think we could have gotten anyone better than Chloe.”
The 24-year-old artist is carrying the torch and tube into a new era.
"It is freeing to know that it is beyond me. Makes me feel small in a good way,” Kottwitz said.
Customer reviews are glowing.
"There is a little bit of play and delight. Really fun. Unexpected. There is neon hanging from every possible surface,” customer Lizzie Garrett said. ”There is a long history and a deep tradition. I think it is really cool for someone to step in and carry that forward.”
There is no shortage of work for this neon bender. Chloe Kottwitz'’s calendar is booked for the next three months.
“There are really endless options yeah,” she said.
Her latest installment is replacing a decades-old sign at Helen’s restaurant on Main Street.
Helen’s original neon signs were crafted by none other than Doug and Louis.
”To get to work on it is definitely a special treat to get my hands on it also,” Kottwitz said.
At one time, six neon businesses called Richmond home.
“It is important for the signs that have been around to stay lit,” Kottwitz said. ”I’m the only one. Yeah. Just me.”
Chloe Kottwitz is determined to keep the lost art current.
"Most neon I’m making will survive beyond my lifetime,” she said.
Chloe Kottwitz is bending the boundaries of her business.
”I think the glow is different than any other light that we see,” she said.
At Uptown Neon, inspiration shines from above from her electrified sky.
"This place is the essence of Doug,” Kottwitz said. "I’m very happy. I think the neon clouds will always be here. This is probably beyond my dreams."
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