Inspired Catalogue

INSPIRED 31.05.19 - 15.06.19

Exhibition Catalogue

ALISON ALLUM In my studio stands the first glass object I made.

It’s not a shoe: it’s a portrait of a woman in flight. It inspired me to use a female shoe as the artefact to stand in for womanhood. This allows me to express my feelings about - and criticise - contemporary feminine mores that are now so blatantly in the public domain in all types of media.

Twitter Trolls H 18.5 x W 24 x D 9 cm Lost wax kilncast £1,750 Walk of Shame H 15 x W 24 x D 9 Lost wax kilncast £1,250 Trash the Dress H 17 x W 24 x D 7 cm Lost wax kilncast £1,500

ALISON LOWRY This piece is inspired by Monet’s many paintings of landscapes, which he depicted in many different series, such as Meadows at Giverny. The paintings all manage to convey the same idyllic ‘summery’ feel. You can almost hear the rustle of the grasses and hum of insects and can feel the heat amongst each tiny flower head. It is the impression of everlasting summer that I wish to describe in this vessel and keep it with me all year round!

Summer Meadows H 40 x W 20 x D 20 cm Pate de verre, polished £1,500, sold Photo Credit: Glenn Norwood

ANDREA SPENCER Victorians had a preoccupation with death, they embraced it as much as being repelled with it. Seeing examples of Victorian hair jewellery on a recent trip, led me to an article, Love after Death: The Beautiful, Macabre World of Mourning Jewellery. The article depicted an image of a Mourning Ring, comprising a miniature ship and anchor, made with hair and set in 9K gold. Much of my previous work has incorporated themes of mortality, journey and purpose. I was inspired by the use of diverse materials within the mourning ring, as well as the symbolism found within the imagery. My piece, Bounty was created in response.

Bounty H 65 x W 45 x D 3 cm Flame worked borosilicate glass, slate and organic matter ÂŁ813 Photo Credit: Artist

ANNE SMYTH A flea market find, a colander has been hanging on the wall of my family kitchen for the last 30 years. Chosen for its pleasing shape, honest use of materials and primarily its usefulness, I have enjoyed using it for its simplicity of form and manufacture. There has been no attempt to hide the raw edges, drilled holes or surface texture in either the colander or the glass inspired by it.

Once taken out of the domestic environment into the studio, the colander became a vessel for interpretation and narrative.

I like the symbolism of the colander, it both selects and holds, allows through and refines, the bones from the stock or the pasta from the water.

‘Flow’ - Colander Study 2 H 58 x W 27 x D 1 cm Float glass, textured, painted with glass enamels and etched ÂŁ488 Photo Credit: Richard Lloyd

ANNE PETTERS

Books of Disquiet 1 & 2 H 11-15 x W 30 x D 15 cm Kilnformed glass pages, fused and shaped in the kiln ÂŁ7,965 each Photo Credit: Artist

The book as an object is a universal symbol for eternalising one’s ideas. It contains and frames a certain space of somebody´s mind and represents intellectual status. Once printed, ideas are manifested, materialized and frozen in time. I am taking this object out of its function as a source of information and turning it into a poetic image that pictures our innate desire to control time and fleetingness.

BORIS SHPEIZMAN

This work consists of 6 ready-made beer glass bottles that hint to a state of being shot from a revolver in a Western movie. Bullets inspire this work. During thousands of years, people were working hard on improving weapons. Not only from utilitarian and engineering point of view, but also improving esthetical appearance. I think that weapons and bullets in particular can serve an example of ultimate design.

Memories of America H 26 x W 68 x D 15 cm Found glass beer bottles, shaped and transformed by hot glass techniques. ÂŁ1,250 Photo Credit: Artist

CARA WASSENBERG Sweet Support III was inspired by a line of chestnut paling fencing near my house. I see human parallels in the wooden forms of the spliced sweet chestnut. Appearing animated, they seem to mimic the strengths and weaknesses of the human condition through their support, tension and movement.

This particular piece was developed after discovering that my father was terminally ill and thoughts on how my own family structure was changing.

Sweet Support III H 120.8 x W 26 x D 26 cm Kilnformed furnace glass, forged mild steel, copper and concrete. ÂŁ2,900 Photo Credit:Jacqui Hurst

CELIA DOWSON Architect Tadao Ando has been a great inspiration through the development of this collection. I am drawn to the way he employs water and light to create dynamic, visual effects on his designs and the space they occupy. His designs are central to the notion of creation, often taking on a round or ellipsoid shape representational of the continuous. Water reflects the sky and mirrors his structures, creating a sense of being part of one unbounded landscape.

Rhossili in Burnt Orange Disk: H 2 x W 21 x D 21 cm Vessel: H 6 x W 6 x D 6 cm Bowl: H 6 x W 12.5 x D 12.cm Kilncast and hand polished glass Disk and Vessel: ÂŁ1,060 Bowl: ÂŁ780 Photo Credit: Sylvain Deleu

CRISPIAN HEATH

My work is predominated by forms, patterns and textures occurring in nature that spark the imagination. The thrill of discovery when out walking ignites an idea, this begins the process of creating a cast glass piece that communicates what I see.

Looking at a piece of found birch bark, I thought it would translate well into a cast glass relief. The implied figurative vertical forms contrast with horizontal patterns on the paperlike outer bark.

Birch Bark 1 & 2 H 22 x W 35 x D 5 cm Kilncast recycled gaffer glass, polished back ÂŁ980 each Photo Credit: Artist

DOMINIC FONDE This work presents imagery inspired by some of my favourite Ray Bradbury stories, one of which is called Kaleidoscope. The endlessly repeated images within the kaleidoscope I constructed are a visual metaphor for the act of reading these stories again and again.

I am at heart a story teller, but what inspired me to tell stories? One of the biggest influences I can identify is at the age of ten, discovering the stories of Ray Bradbury.

Bradbury’s prose was elegant, thrilling, terrifying and often painfully beautiful. It fired my imagination like nothing else. Ray Bradbury inspired me to tell stories.

R is for Ray, B is for Bradbury H 15 x W 17.5 x D 17.5 cm Kaleidoscope with drill engraved glass. ÂŁ625 Photo Credit: Artist and London Glassblowing

ESTELLE DEAN The fortune cookie, a look-alike of a Japanese sweet in the 1800s, has been adopted over time by the American Chinese community. These have become known as a favour in Chinese Restaurants across the globe.

I use the fortune cookie as a metaphor for the individual and interaction with various cultural influences. The individuals’ fragility and their idiosyncrasies can often be overlooked or overshadowed by the collective. Listening, touching, forever changing and evolving.

Spill H 12 x W 18 x D 25 cm Pate de verre, hot free formed £1,000

Selection 2 H 9 x W 30 x D 30 cm Pate de verre, hot free formed in a wooden sectioned box £950

HANNAH GIBSON

Recycling Narratives - Sweet Nothing Through the looking Glass III H 27 x W 17 x D 5 cm Cast glass made using 100% recycled television glass £900

Recycling Narratives - Time and Tide Wait for No Man I H 27 x W 17 x D 5 cm Kilncast recycled milk bottles and watch parts £900

Recycling Narratives - Time and Tide Wait for No Man II H 8.5 x W 5 x D 2 cm Kilncast recycled milk bottles and watch parts £120

Capturing the nostalgic imagery of childhood, exposing hidden narratives through cast sculptural glass stands at the core of my work. Passionate about sustainability and recycling, using only 100% recycled glass, and found objects. Sweet Nothings are unique Cast Glass figures, usually found in pairs, whispering ‘Sweet Nothings’ to one another. What are they whispering? ‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.’ (Dr Seuss, The Lorax).

Recycling Narratives - Sweet Nothing Through the Looking Glass II H 8.5 x W 5 x D 2 cm Kilncast recycled television glass £120 each, one sold Photo Credit: Beytan Erkman

HELEN HANCOCK

I want to change how we approach natural feeding. Using hot glass as a medium offers a new perspective on what we know to be one of Nature’s most vital medicines, human milk.

After experiencing birth trauma and issues with breastfeeding my first child in 2009, I qualified as a Cuidiu (Irish Childbirth Trust) Breastfeeding Counsellor and later as a Birth Doula. I wanted to become the person I wished that I’d had in my most vulnerable times post birth. I also needed to feel that what had happened was not my fault.

The glass breasts infused with human milk represent the many women who I have supported in my role as Breastfeeding Counsellor. They inspire conversation around lactation and the understanding of what the human body can do to improve the outcome for the mother and child.

Human Milk H 22 x W 22 x D 22 cm Hand blown glass infused with human milk ÂŁ2,250 each ÂŁ6,750 set Photo Credit previous page: Simon Bruntnell

GEORGIA REDPATH My work looks at the relationship between geometry and life: how everything – natural or manmade – is the product of simple geometric relationships. Without hiding the underlying geometry, my aim is to use this abstract language to create patterns and forms which allude to the beauty of the natural world.

Fish trivets which are my inspiration here, might seem far removed from my Colony pieces, however they are mementos of a trip to Istanbul over 20 years ago: their ‘cheap and cheerful’ geometry acts as a portal back to the wonderful patterns of the Blue Mosque.

Colony 1, 2 & 3 H 8 x W 26 x D 30 cm Kilncast and kilnformed lead crystal £1,875 each Photo Credit: Simon Bruntnell

JACQUE PAVLOSKY Children’s literature throughout the ages around the world often features imaginary lands with castles floating in the sky or appearing on the horizon with the promise of ‘happily ever afters’. Their exotic towers, just visible in the midst of mountain peaks and sunlit clouds, beckon the imagination to dream of faraway exotic places, to aspire to a life beyond the everyday.

This work is inspired by pressed and cut glassware. I used moulds taken directly from existing pieces.

In the ‘real’ world the towers built by diverse cultures on every continent are designed to capture our imagination encourage us to elevate our perceptions creating in us a sense of awe and wonder, to aspire, to dream expansively.

Fabled Towers Enquire for dimensions Kilncast glass, coldworked and assembled Small £150 Medium £375 Large £563 Extra Large £688 Photo Credit: Ester Segarra

JAMES MASKREY My inspiration comes from many sources; personal experiences, peculiar facts, elaborate hoaxes and more recently, historical voyages of discovery, endeavour and exploration all help to inform my work. This piece references scrimshaw, the art of decorating objects such as egg shells done by sailors on long sea voyages as a leisure activity.

The Moa was a giant native bird of New Zealand, standing as much as 12 feet tall. The Polynesian’s arrival sometime before 1300 led to the Moa’s extinction, mainly through hunting, which led to the subsequent extinction of the giant Haast’s eagle that had relied on the Moa for food. New Zealand had been isolated for 80 million years, meaning that not only were its ecosystems extremely fragile, but the native species were ill-equipped to cope with human hunters. Research suggests that the events leading to extinction took less than a hundred years.

Moa H 47 x W 21 x D 21 cm Blown glass with imagery, assembled £2,475, sold.

Photo Credit: David Williams

JENNY AYRTON I combine wire and glass to create artworks with narrative. Much of my work is inspired by my daily observations as a Devonbased mum-of-two, but these nautical scenes hark back to my own childhood spent messing about on boats. I chose to focus on the easily-overlooked buoy, and the rarely viewed anchor that holds it in place.

I began by making delicate wire anchors and chains, then worked with glassblower Richard Glass to encase them within chunky glass vessels. I engraved the waves and fishy details, and created tiny pewter and copper buoys and boats.

Orange Buoy H 11 x W 12 x D10 cm Blown glass with wire inclusion. Cut, polished, engraved. Pewter buoy with rubber paint.

Reclaimed shackle base. £450, sold.

In the Net H 11 x W 12 x D 12 cm Blown glass with wire inclusion. Cut, polished,engraved. Copper fishing trawler £550, sold.

Beneath the Waves H 9 x W 13 x D 12 cm Blown glass with wire inclusion. Cut, polished, engraved. Pewter buoy. £550 Photo Credit: Nicola Simpson

JI HUANG This series of work is inspired by an ancient lacquer technique called ‘xi pi lacquer’. It is made by applying layers of different colour lacquer on an uneven surface. The surface is then ground and polished to a flat surface revealing each layer of colour. My technique uses a refractory mould blown process and cold working.

Red Jar H 24 x W 18 x D 18 cm Mould blown glass, cold worked £5,600

Blue Jar H 19 x W 14.5 x D 14.5 cm Mould blown glass, cold worked £1,800 Photo Credit: Artist

JINYA ZHAO I have been working with glass for about six years using it as a medium to explore themes of environment, emotion and personal experiences. For this work, my inspiration is a photograph of a sunset.

I call it And Watch the Sun Go Down because I am expressing a warm picture in my mind: sitting outside in the evening drinking red wine and watching the sunset.

And Watch the Sun Go Down H 30 x W 28 x D 36 cm Blown glass, coldworked ÂŁ3,750 Photo Credit: Hao Ma

JON LEWIS When I was very young, my parents would on rare occasions produce the automatic potato peeler. I was fascinated by it, but I couldn’t understand why they didn’t use it every day. For me it was an amazing mythical contraption. Discovering it again a few years ago I finally realised that it was actually pretty useless as a potato peeler, maybe better at peeling apples?

But still fascinating. It was an early inspiration for me on how things work. I have always had an enthusiasm for making and fixing machines and of course, making glass.

New Potatoes H 32 x W 40 x D 40 cm Hot worked glass, dichroic and stainless steel Lathe £3,750 Potato £2,500 Photo Credit: Artist

JULIE LIGHT My work engages with how people visualise health, disease and their bodies, and how these factors influence a sense of embodiment and identity.

Working primarily in glass, sometimes combined with other materials, I like to explore tensions and contrasts, particularly between the organic and mechanistic.

As a girl, I used to play with paper dolls that could be cut out of books and dressed in a variety of fashion outfits which were cut out and attached using paper tabs. Inspired by these, I have created a series of glass ‘paper dolls’, complete with outfits that can be attached and interchanged when desired.

Paper Dolls Each doll: H 29 x W 11 x D 11 cm Pâte de verre £45 - £205, top three still available

KATHERINE HUSKIE The Echinus series came from my love of manipulating hot glass and the tactile qualities of it. Each piece is unique with the trails added individually and manipulated using tools. The physical act of sculpting the hot glass gives a playful element to their creation. Viewers often want to touch the work and this resonates with the sea urchin shells and the desire to touch and hold them, it also links to the dangers of touching sea urchins and the fragility of glass.

Echinus in Wine Red H 30 x W 28 x D 28 cm Blown glass with trails ÂŁ2,000 Echinus in Aqua & Gold H 21 x W 19 x D 19 cm Blown glass with trails ÂŁ1,500 each Photo Credit: Redforge Photography

KIRA PHOENIX K’INAN My artistic practice is rooted in drawing and how I translate the two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional glass sculptures.

The Magenta Type series takes inspiration from the photographic printing process, Cyan Type. The Cyan Type process produces cyan-blue prints by placing objects on top of paper that have been coated with two chemicals, which react to the light, resulting in a ghostly shadow of the objects that was once there. The Magenta Type series uses three dimensional glass objects made in the hotshop and using heat produced in the kiln, these shapes flatten, becoming the shadow of the object they once were.

Magenta Type 6 & 7 H 32 x W 32 x D 0.3 cm Blown and kilnformed glass ÂŁ900 each Photo Credit: Artist

LAURA MCKINLEY My interest in the playful is a constant theme throughout my work. Toys trigger memory and evoke emotions. I seek to re-awaken a childlike wonder of the world and encourage a desire for discovery and play through the enchantment of objects.

My memory of a familiar childhood object, such as a spinning top, is re-imagined in another unexpected material. The curved contours of the solid turned wood are re-created in the fragile transparency of blown glass. The idea of playfulness extends to the use of materials: pairing glass with bronze.

Trottola 1 & 2 H 32 x W 25 x D 25 cm Free blown glass, incalmo technique with turned bronze ÂŁ2,450 each Photo Credit: Artist

LISA PETTIBONE Over the years, I’ve been privileged to see many carved marble statues in museums around the world. Apart from the skill of carving an unforgiving material, it is the beautiful folds of the garments clinging to the figure that always capture my attention. The most stunning example of this is a prone statue of St Cecilia in the Trastevere church in Rome.

Glass can flow like fabric, with the help of gravity, achieving a sensuous fall in its warm state. Controlling, or should I say giving in to, this movement has occupied much of my glass sculpture practice.

Swathe H 31 x W 15.5 x D 8 cm Kilnformed 3mm sheet glass ÂŁ750 Photo Credit: Artist

LINDA NORRIS

Home Sweet Home H 7 x W 26 x D 26 cm Mouth blown flashed glass, sand-etched. £875 Photo Credit: Artist

The designs for these bowls are drawn from antique metal Polyphon and Symphonium music box discs which play the tunes ‘Yankee Doodle’, ‘Home Sweet Home’ and ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’ I am interested in musical box discs as objects that use a graphic analogue code to generate popular music, and I want to illuminate and repurpose them by reinterpreting them as objects in glass.

Mary Had a Little Lamb H 7 x W 26 x D 26 cm Mouth blown flashed glass, sand-etched. £450

Yankee Doodle H 7 x W 26 x D 26 cm Mouth blown flashed glass, sand-etched, fire-polished and kilnformed. £1,000

MORGAN STOCKTON Birmingham’s architectural, industrial and manufacturing heritage informs my work conceptually and aesthetically, using a restricted colour palette of greys to bring this to the foreground.

To create my work, I use an experimental approach to traditional cage blowing. I am actively investigating my personal heritage within Birmingham as well as my grandparents’ histories with the materials that we share a passion for and how this influences my practice. My grandfather worked at Metal Spinners Birmingham and my great-grandfather was a glassblower for Chance Brothers and Company, once a leading glass manufacturer and pioneer of British glassmaking technology in Smethwick, Birmingham.

Coiled 2 H 28 x W 19 x D 13 cm Free blown glass over steel grid coil £875 Photo Credit: Nigel Essex

MORTEN KLITGAARD Ever since I was little I have been fascinated by the moon, mostly the landscape, it had a profound emotional effect on me. Both remote and within reach, the moon is our gateway to a larger universe. It is only a few days’ journey away and so close that you can see the patterns on its surface. But at the same time it points to the vast infinity that opens up in the darkness behind it: the cosmos, which fundamentally exceed the comprehension of humanity. This round white disc has been an open projection surface for myths, imaginings and dreams. I have made lots of tests through the material of glass, trying to make something that creates the same feeling as when I look at the moon’s luminous landscape and shadows.

Metamorphosis Enquire for dimensions Blown glass with multiple surface layers (31 pieces) £350 each, £10,000 for set Photo Credit: Nigel Essex

MYRIAM THOMAS For my imagery of cuneiform signs I wanted to make connections between different time frames for a certain region and contemplate how the fate of a region can change: A long time ago, Syria and the surrounding region were the cradle of our civilisation. Now, it is a tragic region full of bloodshed.

I wanted to highlight the threatening atmosphere associated with this theme. I chose to use a process with copper and chemicals where red stain ‘flames’ are formed round the cuneiform signs during the kiln firing.

The Swamp of Mesopotamia 1, 2 & 3 H 17.5 x W 10 x D 0.6 cm Fused glass with copper inclusions and stains £405 per panel, sold

NANCY SUTCLIFFE My Dad worked as a draughtsman at an engineering firm. Everything was calculated and drawn by hand and mistakes could cost the company a fortune. When I started work (pre computer age) the tools of my trade were the same that my Dad had used. He passed his drawing instruments on to me - they are my inspiration. Worn by years of use they remind me that accuracy and precision are also key to my own practice. Hive has a strong mathematical element so I marked out the plan using Dad’s kit. It would have been easier and quicker to use a computer generated mask and a sandblaster to create the honeycomb, but taking a shortcut wasn’t the point.

Hive H 21 x W 17 x D 7 cm Engraved glass gilded with 24ct gold leaf £2,000 Photo credit: Artist

PETER LAYTON

Wave Enquire for dimensions Hot Sculpted Glass £1,650 each Photo credit: Ester Segarra

The title theme of the 2019 CGS exhibition is Inspired; the idea was to focus on an object close to one’s heart and to develop work derived from it. I chose Hokusai’s famous Great Wave as my source, and explored a variety of forms, colours and techniques in an attempt to interpret the qualities I admire.

Among these is a sense of frozen movement which is also an intrinsic element of the process of working with hot glass. As the glass cools it requires crucial decisions in order to capture a particular form, by allowing the glass to freeze in that moment.

Rocking Wave Enquire for dimensions Hot Sculpted Glass £1,400 each Photo credit: Ester Segarra

PHILIPPA BEVERIDGE We live in a society that sanctifies memory, keeping traces of each story and each object, sometimes obsessively.

My work questions the notion of temporality: absence and displacement, identity and loss. The series of works Lost and Found, started during an artist’s residency in France that deals with the concept of collective and individual identity through the everyday form of a purse: an item often lost, stolen or mislaid, full of sentimental value and personal memories. I continue to work on the series, drawing inspiration from my travels to different countries, incorporating elements from the history of each place and the stories they tell.

Lost and Found Series H 10 x W 12 x D 5 cm Lost wax kilncast glass purse with photographic imagery and photographic decal From £875 - £2,125 Photo credit: Artist

RUTH SHELLEY In this series of vessels I explore the effect of woven and knitted fabric in kiln formed glass. I am contrasting the properties of fabrics, which are soft, delicate and dense with the hard, solid but reflective properties of glass to create a conceptual dialogue between them.

I have encapsulated the patterns and colours of natural dyes used in a traditional Indian rug and a bright knitted coat that I made for her, once young, son, by cutting and placing small pieces of glass side by side to replicate the knots or stitches which is fused in a kiln to form a patterned pane of glass. It is then returned to the kiln to distort it using heat and gravity to form a vessel, which is then cut and cold-worked. This interplay of light, form and colour creates glass sculptures of textile fabrics which represent a circle between her past, present and future.

Osian’s Coat Oval Vessel (Above) H 27 x W 15 x D 13 cm H 18 x W 10 x D 12 cm Kilnformed glass, cut and sandblasted £1,200 and £450 Photo credit: Haydn Denman Paradigm Shift (Left) H 30 x W 28 x D 18 cm Kilnformed glass, cut and sandblasted £2,875 Photo Credit: Artist

SARAH WIBERLEY 3 billion problems but only one solution.

This was how the Rubik’s Cube was advertised on its launch in the 1980s.

Originally designed as a problem solving tool, aiding in the visualisation in three dimensional objects, The Rubik’s Cube’s potential as a puzzle was quickly realised and snapped up by toy manufacturers making it one of the most popular toys of the 1980’s, my childhood years.

3 Billion Solutions but only one Problem 1, 2, 3 & 4 Tallest height is 26cm.Enquire for further dimensions.

Freeblown glass with sandblasted detail £960 - £1,300 Photo credit: Ester Segarra

I have never once ‘solved’ the Rubik’s Cube or really tried that hard to; that is to make all the sides the same colour. As a child, and still now, I take no delight in the idea of ‘solving the cube’. Instead, I like to shift the colour squares around to form irregular patterns and colour combinations. I like the sense of the random sequence of colours, appreciating the chaos when others would only see a problem to be solved.

3 billion solutions but only one problem!

STUART AKROYD Intention VI is a stretched form made using Venetian, Swedish and English techniques with Stuart’s personal adaptations. The central jewel like core is cut open to expose this multitude of technical detail.

This one-off piece was inspired by the Skylon structure, which became the symbol of the 1951 Festival of Britain, a celebration of British design during a period of post war hope and austerity.

Intention VI H 65 x W 13 x D 18.5 cm Freeblown and hand formed glass graal, carved and polished on a polished chrome stand. ÂŁ3,240 Photo credit: Tim Spriddell

SUE TINKLER I am inspired by patterns and textures found in our industrial heritage. In my lifetime work in UK has flipped from 20% service industry and 80% manufacturing to 80% service industry and 20% manufacturing. Now that most peoples’ work is office/ computer based it is becoming rare to see the fruits of our labours.

Much of my work is inspired by the physical evidence of the practical industrial work environment, be that farming, fishing or in the case of this collection - weaving. Harris Tweed can only be woven on the Isle of Harris on a croft. This world famous beautiful fabric is woven on looms inside rickety corrugated sheds. Typically the weavers will also be fishermen or shepherds. The wool is dyed to reflect the colours of the Hebridean landscape, turquoise sea, rugged barnacle encrusted rocks and peat bogs, the textures of which can be seen in this collection.

Harris I 16cm diameter Kilnformed glass vessel, sandblasted £625

Harris II 22cm and 10cm diameter Kilnformed glass vessel, sandblasted £795 for pair Photo credit: Sylvain Deleu

TABITHA BURRILL Childs Play was inspired by the many beautiful antique toys people collect, adult toys that are designed to be looked at and not touched, often kept in boxes as they are too fragile to play with.

I, however, like this installation to be played with and touched. It’s about looking at it and moving the bits around, piling them up like a child would, and although it’s fragile, it can still be fun.

Child’s Play Each cube - H 2 x W 2 x D 2 cm Fused glass cubes £875 for set Photo credit: Igor Ivančić

ULRIKE UMLAUF -ORROM

Summer H 7 x W 37 x D 37 cm Kilnformed glass with enamels, marquetry technique, polished rim £1,850 Photo credit: Artist

In the early 80s I discovered a pair of Japanese trousers in Covent Garden. They were woven in an Ikat technique, the black cloth showing images of flowers in red, yellow, white and green. The mode of weaving and the brilliant colours really impressed me. I bought the trousers, and a life long interest for Japanese textiles began.

In my fusing technique I create patterns and structures derived from lines of colour within the glass, with a strong resemblance to weaving.

Some time ago I started a series of bowls with radiant circles on a black ground – and realized only later how similar the result was to the pattern on my vintage trousers! The bowl Spring, which I specifically made for this competition, is a tribute to them!

Autumn H 6 x W 47 x D 47 cm Kilnformed glass with enamels, marquetry technique, polished rim £1,790 Spring H 6 x W 49 x D 40 cm Kilnformed glass with enamels, marquetry technique, polished rim £1,770 Photo credit: Artist

WILLIAM BELL The series Fovea Centralis finds its inspiration in an intensive study of vintage microscope slides, their ethereal fluid structures speaking of a hidden world, a world which lies just beyond the perception of our unaided eyes. Inspiration was taken not only in terms of colour, form and structure, but also in terms of motivation. With the hope of uncovering a more personal artistic voice and palette, I have entered into a dialog with the material allowing the process itself to influence the colouration and movement of the glass, each new object being catalogued and recorded, never to be recreated.

Fovea Centralis 1, 2 & 3 H 45 x W 16 cm Blown, hot sculpted and fused glass ÂŁ1,625 each Photo credit: Annelie Grimwade Olofsson

YOSHIKO OKADA The Japanese folding screen Waves in Spring and Autumn by Matazo Kayama 1966, is in six-fold screen of 1.6 meters x 3.6 meters high. It is painted, but has a depth and texture to it, that in my experience, draws me into the landscape.

I’ve had a small reproduction of this masterpiece in my workroom for many years and it continues to provide a dreamscape for me to bathe my thoughts in. The piece I have submitted is a tactile glimpse of traveling through this elusive dreamscape.

Distance Between (I) H 29.5 x W 34.4 x D 4 cm Kilncast glass, sandblasted image, engraved £4,750 Distance Between (II) H 23 x W 22 x D 4 cm Kilncast glass, sandblasted image, engraved £3,500 Photo credit: Artist

YUKI KOKAI My piece Cocoon is inspired by the classic children’s game Ker-Plunk where several dozen marbles are placed in the top of a transparent tube and held in place by the straws which passed through holes in the middle of the tube to form a lattice.

One of the important theories of my work is balance and this children’s game Ker-Plunk was a perfect inspiration for my Cocoon piece.

Cocoon H 29.5 x W 34.4 x D 34.4 cm Blown glass with brass rods £1,000 each £2,000 for the pair Photo Credit: Artist