Keith Haring For The Holidays: Cannabis Glassware Meets Urban Culture

Visit the renowned Art Center of Design in Pasadena, California, and you’ll get a chance to see a celebrated mural symbolizing hope and compassion for members of the art community who have died of AIDS. 

Painted as part of the first-ever Day Without Art and second annual World AIDS Day, Keith Haring’s mural masterpiece is merely one of an extensive portfolio of recognizable inimitable works. 

Haring’s popularity surfaced in the 1980's art scene when his iconic characters, curves, sharp angles began appearing in the New York City subway system. 

With his trademark style, Haring drew using white chalk on black paper, then pasted his work on unused advertising spaces. In this way, his distinctive style became widely known before anyone even knew who he was. 

High and Low Art

Keith Haring was committed to having his art be accessible by producing volumes of work and selling them at affordable prices.

Haring was once asked why he painted so prolifically when having a scarcity of work tends to translate to a higher value. “My shop is an extension of what I was doing in the subway stations, breaking down the barriers between high and low art,” he replied. 

''A tuneful celebration of urban commonality,'' as one critic wrote. 

In the same respect, the newly released Haring Glass Collection is the coalescence of cannabis-inspired glass art and urban culture art forms. 

The Keith Haring Rig

First, let’s level-set and define dabbing and a dab rig. 

Cannabis dab rigs are used for vaporizing a strong concentrate extraction from the marijuana plant rather than traditionally smoking the plant in its natural form. In this consumption method, a small butane torch or electric current. 

Why would anyone do this? 

Partly because vaporizing the extract yields a smooth, cleaner draw as it’s smokeless, bringing out the terpene (flavor and aroma) properties without flame and burning that can cloak those properties. Mainly, the appeal of dab rigs is in its ability to get you super high, tempering that experience with water filtration mechanisms to control the intensity of your “dab rip.”

But it’s not for lightweights. Even this qualified-looking gentleman was not prepared for his first dab.

I happen to be uncharacteristically good at it. 

For this experience review, christening this freshly unpacked Haring Rig became the duty of a random enthusiast I sat next to who eagerly opted in.

Classic in Form

Classic in form, the Haring Rig, produced by premier glassmaker Higher Standards, rarely uses sharp corners, and its unorthodox, yet fluid curves appear carefully designed in reverence to Haring’s iconic shapes. 

Like the feet of Haring’s uniquely recognizable chalk people, the base of this glass piece resembles that of the rounded but sharp look of a hookah (right) more than the typical flat base of a water bong (left).

Because Higher Standards glassware is industry recognized for producing heavy duty products, this deceivingly fragile-looking device is produced with uncommon strength and sturdiness that leaves the buyer feeling secure about their investment.

At the same time, the Haring Dab Rig is accessible at an entirely reasonable price point ($130) for casual consumers and collectable glass enthusiasts alike. 

Art’s Tribute to Art

The Keith Haring Glassware line brings together cultural relevance and polished style, cross-pollinating two disparate audiences just as consumer attitudes towards cannabis favorably shift.

What was once taboo has become desirable. At the same time, companies like Pepsi are partnering with influential local muralists in cities like Detroit to showcase the creative energy, artwork, and music produced by the talented people who shape the city’s culture. 

When this eclipse-like phenomenon occurs, Haring’s commitment to “breaking down the barriers between high and low art,” can be achieved.

Keith Haring died right in the midst of the AIDS epidemic in 1990 at the age of 31 years old. 

30 years later, part of him has returned as a noble tribute in another expressive art form. 

Dab on.

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Recognizable by his industry-trademark ascot, Andre Bourque is a noted cannabis business consultant and connector, and former Forbes cannabis contributor. He now advises on industry investments, business growth, media strategy, and strategic partnerships. His cannabis industry analysis has been cited by legal, business, and government entities, publications, and other Forbes writers. 

He can be reached on Twitter (@andre_ascot), Instagram (@andre_ascot), and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/andre-ascot) and is published in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Benzinga, HuffPost, and Yahoo Finance.