Creative Escape Glass closes as owner dies

A 10-year-old fused glass studio has closed following the sudden death of its owner.

Creative Escape Glass LLC announced the death of owner Rebekah Santiago in a Nov. 7 Facebook post. A post earlier that day indicated Santiago "had a medical emergency and is in a coma in the hospital." 

"It is with a broken heart that I have to announce the passing of my beautiful wife, Rebekah Santiago, owner of Creative Escape Glass LLC," a post dated Nov. 7 reads. "The studio will be closed permanently as we don't have anyone to continue her beautiful work of glass fusion. We had a wonderful 10 years serving our customers, many of whom we call friends."

Rafael Santiago, Rebekah’s husband, told Springfield Business Journal this morning that his wife died Nov. 8 after she had a “spontaneous brain bleed” and was placed in a coma. Rebekah was 54, he said.

Rebekah had operated Creative Escape Glass since 2015 with Rafael, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The studio focused on fused glass creations for crafters of all skill levels. 

“She lived for glass,” Rafael said this morning. “She loved being at work. She didn’t call it work. She called it her happy place.”

In an October 2021 Business Spotlight article published in SBJ, Rebekah Santiago described the process of taking various pieces of glass and assembling them into a new whole. 

“I love doing mosaics – taking something other people would think is useless and making something beautiful,” she told SBJ at the time. “It’s such a satisfying feeling.”