Glassblowing

 

The Cone hosts daily glassblowing demonstrations Thursday to Tuesday inclusive.  The resident glassblowers can be found in the newly revamped hot glass studio which allows visitors to sit and watch them at work, and also walk down by the glass furnaces and out to the canalside.

 

The Cone offers scholarships to new glass graduates each year, to give them the opportunity to hone their craft and develop their own businesses.  There are currently five resident artists who produce a varied range of work.  All of them sell their work in the cone itself and in the museum shop.

 

They are happy to answer questions about their work and all of them take commissions for one-off pieces.

 

This year's artists are Ian Bamforth, Vic Bamforth, Malin Blomgren, Ian MacDonald and Caroline Scully.

 

 

Ian previously trained as a cabinet maker and worked in carpentry for 20

years. In 2000 he enrolled on a hot glass evening class and was instantly hooked. His growing enthusiasm and passion for hot glass soon prompted a career change and resulted in Ian studying at the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill. He has won various awards, including the glass centre’s ‘best blown piece of glass’ for his pirouette range.

 

Ian has been based in the West Midlands since 2001 and has exhibited widely in Britain. He has worked with many glass artists, gaining valuable experience in producing individual pieces of artistic glass.

 

Ian specialises in hand blown pieces, influenced by oceanic colour schemes. He uses form and colour to explore transparency, reflection and refraction. Ian uses foils in his pieces, with bold glass colours omplimented by the silvery slivers. He also creates two-tone pieces, fusing together the different coloured

pieces which are made separately.

 

 

Vic’s first hands on with hot glass was during a part time evening course in hot glass in 2000. The following summer a piece of his work was selected for inclusion in the V&A Museum’s ‘Inspired by’ exhibition and led to him relocating to pursue his interest full time at the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill where he studied glass techniques and technology and glass design. During this time he won the Plowden and Thompson award for the ‘Best Interpretation of Glass Quality’.

 

After winning a scholarship Vic began making at the Red House Glass Cone in Wordsley, Stourbridge.

 

The basics that drive his work are the dynamics of colour, movement, and the unique properties and qualities of glass itself. Inspiration is drawn from life’s experiences - people he has met and the world around him. The blown form has provided him with an ideal three-dimensional canvas to carry expressive, figurative/non figurative content infused with a sense of humour.

 

All of Vic’s pieces are hand blown. He is a specialist in the Graal technique producing instantly recognisable, vibrantly painted pieces using high firing enamels (Paradise Paints) from California. It is this work that is gaining Vic international recognition and is becoming increasingly sought after by collectors worldwide.

 

In 2006 Vic’s work was selected by the ZeST gallery, London to be exhibited at the annual ‘Sculptural Objects and functional Art’(SOFA) fair, Chicago. In 2007 the same gallery selected his work again for SOFA Chicago - this is the top show for contemporary decorative and fine arts in the world.

 

Vic’s work has also recently been selected to be part of ORIGIN -The London Craft Fair.

 

 

Malin Blomgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden she studied at Vaxjo University in Sweden, Santa Monica College in Los Angeles, California and subsequently at the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill. Malin currently works from a studio at the Cone.

 

‘I mainly get my inspiration from colours and shapes in nature, and the qualities of glass. I respond to mentally uplifting non visual input, anything that touches my soul. Flow, rhythm, expression, tone, and harmony are all

significant factors to my work. Composed suitably these elements will support each other to make the piece sing.’

 

Her glass objects possess common elements to music. They are designed to, just like a nice melody, contribute to the ambience of the surroundings. Her body of work is extensive and includes bowls, vases, and plates. Each piece is hand crafted and therefore unique.

 

‘I am fascinated by forms with contrasting elements within them. Also, the rim and its relation to form is important in my work. Working with contrasts using colour, texture, shape etc, contributes to the dynamic expression of my glass.’

 

 

Ian studied glass design at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design. He then spent seven years working as a glass assistant at a variety of hot glass studios in Cornwall and Wiltshire. In order to develop his own glass blowing skills, Ian attended the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill, resulting in a two year scholarship to the Broadfield House Glass Museum’s on-site studio. Ian’s designs tend not to embody a preset concept or particular influence. His work combines classical form with a contemporary design twist, normally in

the form of tactile outer surface decoration.

 

Present designs display a directional change towards a more sculptural, asymmetrical theme which can be observed in his dream platter and coral vessel ranges.

 

The coral vessel range is a sculptural form combining three colours with multiair bubble and silver inlay inclusion. This undulating finished form creates a fluid aquatic theme.

 

The dream platter range consists of a central body combining four colours, with copper ‘dreamcatcher’ ring and silver inlay inclusion. The form is gradually centrifugally spun to create the finished asymmetry.

 

 

Caroline first started working with glass when studying 3D Design at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2000. When she completed this course she went on to study for two years at the International Glass Centre in Brierley Hill.

 

Initially, Caroline was influenced by the Scandinavian glass makers. She particularly liked the solidity of the shapes and the depth and vibrancy of the colours. More recently Caroline has used various aspects of nature as themes for her work.

 

“It is important to me that my work exploits the many properties of glass, regardless of whether it is intended to be merely functional or designed as a piece of art”.

 

In 2004 Caroline won the Frederick Stuart Memorial Award for the best blown glass piece of her year. In 2005 she was a finalist in the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition and selected to submit work to the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers exhibition at Peter Layton’s London Studio. Caroline currently spends her time working on her own designs at The Red House Glass Cone, Stourbridge.