Itamaraty #2

I developed this body of work during the final two terms of my MA at the Royal College of Art in London in 2015. The technique itself is a contemporary spin on the Graal technique which was pioneered at Orrefors in 1916 by the designer Simon Gate working with the master glassblower Knut Bergqvist.

The making process is in several stages: a glass blank with a thin layer of opaque colour on the inside is first blown. Once the blank has annealed, I slice through it with a circular saw to create elliptical rings. I cold-work both sides of the rings, bevel, and polish. I then re-assemble the rings to make layered structures allowing for areas of transparency, translucency, and opacity. The rings are fused together in the kiln before being picked up and re-blown. Heat and gravity distort and disrupt the lines to produce dynamic and structurally complex pieces – each one unique.