Gay LeCleire Taylor, Debbie Tarsitano, and Gordon Smith discuss the generosity of Bob Banford and his father, Ray, and the Banfords’ history of selling and then making weights. Oral history interview with Gay Taylor by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 9, 2018, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Debbie Tarsitano by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, April 18, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Oral history interview with Gordon Smith by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, November 26, 2019, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 02:49.

Time stamp: 00:00
Clip 1: Gay LeCleire Taylor talks about Bob Banford. Clip length: 00:30.

Gay LeCleire Taylor: Bob Banford is my age, so he’s in his late sixties, and he’s retired to Florida. He’s living in Florida, actually Big Pine Key. His house survived this hurricane. And then his father, who really got him started and gave him his torch, is really the impetus of getting all their weights done is Ray, there, and Ray has since, long since passed away also. 

Time stamp: 00:33
Clip 2: Debbie Tarsitano discusses her and her father’s history with paperweights. Clip length: 01:19.

Debbie Tarsitano: At some point we were buying paperweights from—we were selling paperweights at some point; this is another story, but we actually were dealers in paperweights at—before we made paperweights. Cause my father [Delmo] was a collector, we collected, and then we were dealing in them a little bit—and antique shows like that, and we met Bob Banford, Bob and Ray Banford. And my father was buying some paperweights from them, and I went to the house in New Jersey, Hamilton, New Jersey, to meet Bob and Ray with my dad. And they took me into their studio, and they showed me, and I said, ‘Wow. This is like, we can have a little torch,’ and then Bob Banford was very kindly towards me, and he said, ‘Oh, you can get something better than that.’ And then Bob Banford actually brought me to Carlisle [Carlisle Machine Works], which is in New Jersey; it’s in Millville, and he helped me to pick out a torch that would be better, which was very, very nice of him. So I was like, ‘Oh boy, now I have a torch like a real artist.’ Yeah, and then we came home, and we had glass from here and there that we picked up. We were using junk glass pretty much. And from there we started really experimenting, and we were completely self-taught. Completely. Completely self-taught. I mean, Bob handed me a torch, and that was the extent of it, which was enough.

Time stamp: 01:55
Clip 3: Gordon Smith discusses Bob Banford. Clip length: 00:16.

Gordon Smith: He was right in—you know, he and his father—cause his father [Ray Banford] sold paperweights as an antique dealer before they ever made them, and then they got into it as makers because they saw that, you know, these were such a neat object and people wanted ‘em. So they decided to learn how to make ‘em.

Time stamp: 02:14
Clip 4: Gordon Smith discusses Bob and Ray Banford. Clip length: 00:35.

Gordon Smith: Also the Banfords, Bob Banford in particular; his work was flawless and perfect. It was done in the classic French style. I mean, it was—you’d swear that it was machine made. It was so well done. And the balance, the perfection of each individual flower he made—the colors that he used. He just really was another one that set the bar for just how good a paperweight can be made.