Who is John Sharvin? Meet the contestant from Netflix’s Blown Away Season 3

On July 22, after two successful seasons of Blown Away, Netflix is coming up with the third season of the glassblowing competition with "studio technician at the Pittsburgh glass center" John Sharvin as one of the contestants in the show.

Nine other contestants will join him at North America's largest hot shop to exhibit their exceptional creativity in "challenges inspired by outer space, the circus, the Seven Deadly Sins, and more." The official synopsis of the show reads:

“ In each episode, the glassblowers must impress the Evaluators or risk being eliminated. At stake is a life changing prize that will send their careers to new heights. Blown Away is hosted by Nick Uhas with Resident Evaluator and Glass Master Katherine Gray.”

---

Blown Away Season 3 contestant John Sharvin was previously training to be an engineer

The 34-year-old John Sharvin is a store manager at Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) and teaches younger glass artists how to run a glassblowing studio.

The Columbus, Ohio, native started studying engineering in college but dropped out. On a whim, he took a glassblowing class, and a few days later, he changed his major to fine arts in glass in 2008 and graduated from The Ohio State University with BFA in glass in 2012.

As per his official PGC profile,

"John stayed in Columbus for a few years working in galleries, doing public glass demonstrations and tutoring students. He took a Technician Apprenticeship in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Glass Center in 2014."

John discovered the open call for Blown Away contestants through the glass center's executive director Heather McElwee, who also appeared on season two as a guest judge. Speaking to Next Pittsburgh, John said:

“I was like, ‘You know what, I need to change up my life. Things are kind of not going my way.’” And, well, this is going to be a ridiculous opportunity. So let’s give this one a shot.”

John has over 15 years of experience in glass work. He started his journey by making "vessels and functional work," but about six years ago, John became inclined towards "sculptural type of stuff" in glass and mixed media. He loves creating landscapes and motifs with glasses. He even loves to make aminals out of them. Speaking about his specialty, he said:

“I love making cute animals. As I make them, it’s more of a technique, practice-type thing. Kind of like elevating craft and spending a lot of time putting a lot of detail and making them look somewhat realistic — but with this kind of hint of cuteness that is kind of not realistic.”

Now, John will be participating in the six-week show, Blow Away in Hamilton, Ontario, and will showcase his creativity in a "stressful, challenging, and the hottest studio" ever.

In the show, John "has to come up with a fully articulated design and art piece — design it and be able to talk about it, write about it and then go and make it."

He will be competing against the other artists for $60,000 in prizes. According to John, the show will film 10 episodes in succession, getting only one day off during the six-week shoot due to the tight production schedule.

Stream Netflix on Friday, July 22, to watch one of the most intense design competitions, Blown Away.