NEWPORT — Michael Richardson’s about 30 now, but he’s still a kid. Mornings when the waves are big enough he hits Easton’s Beach for a bit of surfing. He and his long-time friends Timothy Underwood and Justin Tarducci might then get together at their Franklin Street shop and talk business. Then they’ll head down to their glass blowing studio and craft pieces borne of and inspired by the things in their lives: Surfing, the ocean, trees, waves. They crank their music loud, laugh a lot and turn out sculpture that has become recognized as among the best custom glass in Rhode Island.

“Anything that inspires us,” says Michael when he’s asked where ideas for their pieces come from.

It’s been seven years since the long-time friends opened their Anchor Bend Glass studio in Newport. Though the glass is now blown in North Kingstown, the three still keep a shop on Franklin Street; their first place was down near Waites Wharf. Their Franklin Street shop is a bit of a proving ground, said Michael, as the stock always changes as he or his friends and partners come up with new ideas and want to test them out in a retail setting.

The three met each other in high school and kept in touch even after they went away for college. Michael headed to St. Michael’s College, Justin studied at RISD and Timothy apprenticed with different blowers. After school, they spent time working in others’ studios to hone their chops. But by the early 1990s, they were ready for a change.

“We were tired of making other people’s work,” said Michael. And thus, Anchor Bend was born.

Today, the company sells both on the local level, nationally and internationally through a series of wholesalers. Their work is sought after, and they recently completed a commission for the organization that held the OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race that started in Portsmouth, England, and finished in Newport.

“It’s a pretty good thing,” said Michael. “We’re doing what we love to do.