OUR ARTISTS
We seek out the most artistic and inspired designs from across the world and bring them to the discerning customer here in the
UK.
Representing both world renowned artists and emerging talent in the field of glass, our extensive range includes work from Britain, America, Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy and more.
We're delighted to introduce them to you.
FAY MILLER
American artist Fay Miller began her career as a graphic designer but soon turned her attentions to glass and her need to express her creativity through 3- dimensional objects.
“Interpreting and refining the multitude of stimuli that bombard my brain every day is what my work is about. Every day I see things I want to recreate - leaves blowing in the wind, animal horns at the zoo, buildings rising in the city, political debates on television, seasons changing the landscape and people gathered in joyous celebration. I incorporate elements of whimsy wildness and intense colour. The beauty, geometry and harshness of the natural world drive my creative process”
We are pleased to represent Fay's striking work exclusively in the UK.
PAVEL HAVELKA
Czech born Pavel Havelka studied glass at the School of Applied Arts in Zelezny Brod and upon leaving in 1987, joined the renowned Beranek glassworks in Skrdlovice.
Throughout his seven years with Beranek, Havelka produced pieces to others original designs whilst experimenting with various techniques to compile his own body of work.
In 1994 he moved to the Svoboda glassworks where he became their resident glass artist.
Some five years later, Havelka joined the Princ Glassworks as the 'Master of Production' gaining recognition for his artistically inspired designs and use of 'cold work' cutting.
In 2011 Havelka established his own glass studio where he now produces one-off and limited production decorative pieces.
Ruth won the Glass Sellers Award at the British Glass Biennale in 2015 with her striking ‘Indian Intarsia’ piece.
IAN BAMFORTH
Ian was born in Kingston Upon Hull in 1955. Having worked in a variety of jobs here and abroad, he was captivated by glass after enrolling on a “Hot Glass” evening class at Buckinghamshire College in
2000. It was ‘love at first blow’ and he was smitten.
His enthusiasm and passion for Hot Glass soon prompted a career change, which resulted in him attending the world renowned “International Glass Centre”, Brierley Hill, where he gained an “OCNWM in Glass Techniques and Technology” and an “Advanced Diploma in Glass Design”.
Ian specialises in producing hand blown glass pieces. Utilising both form and colour married with traditional techniques to explore transparency, translucence, reflection and refraction.
Ian’s influences range from nature and the oceans flora and fauna to the cosmos. The latter being the influence for his most recent ‘ORBIT’ series.
After graduating from Bangor University with a psychology degree, Elliot Walker studied glassmaking in the Historic Glass Quarter in Stourbridge.
With its vast spectrum of colour and texture and its ability to mimic other materials, molten glass provides Walker with the ultimate palette to create his three dimensional compositions and
sculptures.
Elliot worked alongside Peter Layton at London Glassblowing for 8 years and continues to experiment and create from his studio in Hertford
Exploiting the molten glass to produce works of luminous quality and eggshell delicacy, his aim is to transform the liquid glass into unexpected forms and figures.
Elliot Walker is one of the UK’s finest rising glass stars and in his relatively short glass blowing career, has already become one of the most active and inspiring artists of his generation, winning the Craft&Design award at the prestigious British Glass Biennale in May 2015.
You’ll see Elliot competing in the forthcoming series of ‘Blown Away’ being aired on Netflix from 22nd January 2021 and we’re delighted to offer one of his incredible Still Life compositions within our current assortment.
The blown glassware of Darren Weed is rooted with a deep respect of traditional methods and processes, driven further by the desire to keep developing technically through design, ideas and execution.
Darren has always appreciated Art in which the craft of its production can be seen and strives to raise the standard of his own practice with every piece made.
“Working with glass is a demanding experience, often unforgiving but ultimately rewarding. The preparation and attention required throughout making is a motivating force in the creative process. I try not to take inspiration from the material itself but rather try to understand ideas through the process and perceived limitations of glass blowing.”
MATS JONASSON
Mats Jonasson left school at the tender age of 14 & began his career as an apprentice engraver at the Maleras Glassworks.
Throughout his early career, he worked with many of Sweden's leading and most talented contemporary glass artists, learning his craft and developing his confidence, abilities and ideas.
He left briefly to work as an apprentice at Kosta but returned to his roots in 1975.
Jonasson's pieces are inspired by the natural world. His works commonly feature intricate etchings of animals in Lead crystal. His more recent works have experimented with colour, used to define the captivating features of his 'Masq' series of sculptures.
GEORGE PONZINI
George Ponzini was born in New York in 1952. He was first introduced to glass while studying at the Franklin Pierce College, thereafter concentrating on glass and furniture at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He has studied glass at Pilchuck Glass School and has been honoured as a Fellowship Recipient from the Vermont Council of the Arts and the Grodin Award for Excellence in Design and Craftsmanship.
Ponzini creates glass objects and sculptures that are engaging and elegant.
His designs are architecturally influenced, capturing the feeling of art deco with stunning composites of blown and constructed glass elements. .A piece is typically designed hands-on, using an inventory of glass parts instead of drawings. These parts consist of glass rods & tubes, textured glass, structural glass, wire safety glass, marbles and beads. The glass is either cut on a saw or with a carbide tip glass cutter. Then the parts are ground on a diamond impregnated grinding wheel or on discs of varying grit. The etched patterns are sandblasted. The parts are then glued with a silicone adhesive thus completing the piece. Ponzini has been working in his current style since the mid 1980's. His glass career has spanned 3 decades.
We are very proud to say that A Heart of Glass are sole UK stockists!
MICHAEL TRIMPOL
Born in Philadelphia, Michael Trimpol was first introduced to glass working during a high school stained glass course in Stowe VT. He pursued a career in stained glass while attending Concordia University in Montreal designing and creating many residential commissions as well as several public installations.
Frustrated with the limitations of the two dimensional process, he enrolled at Sheridan College School of Craft & Design in Mississauga Ontario to learn the art of glassblowing. Upon graduation in 1985, he was accepted for a residency at Harbourfront Craft Studios, one of Toronto's most popular tourist destinations. Shortly after he left Harbourfront in 1989, he established his own company Hotglass Inc. in Mississauga, for which he designed and created a full line of blown glass products. In 1995, Michael relocated to Stowe Vermont and founded Little River Hotglass Studio. He currently designs and manufactures a diverse body of product in addition to overseeing the operations of the studio.
MILAN MACHACEK
Born in 1957 in a small town in the Czech Republic, Milan Machacek has had a long and established career in glassmaking. He began his training at the Bohemia School of Art and then moved to the Academy of Applied Arts, which specializes in glass artistry and glass technology.
Machacek has taken residency in many glassworks across the Czech Republic including Svoboda and Hut Princ. With a desire to push the boundaries of glass design, Machacek has developed a specialism in cold-work, using the methods of sandblasting, cutting, grinding and polishing to create pure geometric forms.
"What is removed from the piece is just as important as what is left"
ALES VALNER
Ales Valner was born in 1962 in Brno, Czech Republic. Having designed for a number of glassworks in his early career including Glass Art Princ, he went on to establish his own glassworks in 2004.
Working alongside 4 other artists, Valner's focus is on quality rather than quantity- producing colourful, free blown pieces that are highly decorative and usually sculptural in form.
The limited production capacity of his small glassworks means many pieces are unique, usually specially commissioned for exhibitions across Germany & America or for private collections.
Gianluca has worked over the years with many of the most important Glass Maestros on Murano such as Afro Celotto, Silvano Molin, Luciano Pavanello, Giancarlo Tagliapietra and Dino Vio. It is in this period that his colleagues give him the nickname “Crema”, due to his natural ability to gracefully shape glass as a “cream”.
In 2000, while working at the Artistic Glass Factory Schiavon, he once again had the opportunity to work with Afro Celotto and one year later having learned the techniques of filigrana, mosaics and tessere murrines, he opened a new studio with Afro Celotto and CarloTagliapietra.
Previously focusing on the production of Venetian chandeliers, Fabio is now expressing his own cretaivity in the form of glasses, sculptural vases and bowls.
He specialises in two of the oldest glass making techniques: ‘Filigrana’ involving long glass rods which are superimposed, intertwined and fused together then wrapped around a glass cylinder and blown into shape and ‘Murrini’ which involves fusing coloured glass canes together to form one multi-coloured rod which is then cut into small discs. These discs are then fused together to create ‘mosaic’ effects.
His lovely vibrant pieces are ground and cut to create striking colour combinations and textured finishes.
MONICA BACKSTROM
Swedish glass artist Monica Backstrom has worked for Kosta Boda since 1965 and is one of their chief designers with her own studio. Backstrom takes her inspiration from nature and the environment.
Her more recent works including the "Moonlanding" series (retired from production in 2003) were designed to reflect her study of astronomy and space- The textured surface depicting that of the surface of the moon. Backstrom is married to Erik Hoglund, himself a well known glass artist and their daughter Erika Hoglund is now designing and producing her own pieces in collaboration with Mats Jonasson at the Maleras glassworks in Sweden.
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