Deep Dive: How Alumna Olivia Eburne is Transforming Glass to Save the Environment

MassArt Alumna Olivia Eburne BFA '24 Glass reminds us that art and design can be powerful forces for environmental change.

Written by Rachael Dubinsky

MassArt Alumna Olivia Eburne BFA ’24 Glass has always been drawn to water. From her childhood on Morse’s Pond in Wellesley, Mass., to restoring coral reefs in Madagascar during a formative gap year, to tackling glass pollution in the Caribbean, the sea has shaped her creative life.

From an early age, Olivia understood the fragility of our environment and knew she wanted her art and design practice to answer one guiding question: how can design actively combat climate change?

That purpose deepened during a self-directed gap year in Madagascar, where Olivia volunteered in coral restoration and marine conservation. Diving daily, she saw both the fragility and resilience of reefs first hand. The experience didn’t pull her away from art; it sharpened her vision.

At MassArt, Olivia combined Industrial Design and Glass studies, learning to bridge scientific insight with hands-on solutions. “A lot of people think conservation is just research,” she says. “But to actually apply those findings, you need good design.”

Her path to that interdisciplinary clarity began even earlier. In 2017, the summer before her senior year of high school, Olivia attended a pre-college program at MassArt. It was there that faculty first introduced her to Industrial Design as a potential career path — a formative moment that reframed her ambitions and showed her how environmental problem-solving could take tangible, material form.

As a student, she immersed herself in both studio practice and campus leadership. She worked in the laser cutting labs, served as the Glass representative in the Student Government Association, and co-founded the Stained Glass Club her senior year to teach the craft to fellow students. Her first glass commission — creating the awards for MassArt’s 150th celebration — marked a milestone moment, aligning her emerging practice with the institution that helped shape it. 

For her Industrial Design thesis, Olivia used her gap-year experience in Madagascar to develop small, mobile coral restoration structures — designed for small teams with limited funding, making reef recovery more accessible to grassroots organizations. “It was through that thesis that I really understood where design and conservation intersect,” she reflects.