The Glassmaker

Glass against wood. On the workbench in the glassblower’s studio, in a little village in the hills above Lake Lugano, three vases glow in the sun. The smooth topaz, turquoise and jade surfaces reflect the light beams that stream through the south window and appear as if the glass were still glowing from the furnace.

The glassblower sits beside the amber glow of the kiln, transforming a rigid glass pane into a cylindrical vessel. He works the molten glass, gathered at the end of a long iron pipe. Sparks fly as he smoothes the vitreous mass with a steel paddle. He sits in his custom-made glassmaker's chair, which has extended arms to support the blowpipe.

Back and forth he goes, from the chair to the kiln. Once the glass reaches working temperature, the glassblower extracts it from the mouth of the kiln, then goes back to the chair and shapes the amorphous substance — using the taglio, a wide steel blade. To cool the mass he rolls it against the steel surface or a laboratory table, then blows into the pipe to control the shape and thickness. Again he returns the gather to the kiln and when the molten glass is plastic, the glassblower works the vitreous substance, using jacks, pinces and shears, refining the form and constantly reheating the glass in the kiln. Blowing and shaping and heating.

The art of glassmaking is deeply rooted in civilizations past — the Islamic glass working tradition for instance, is 500 years old; their techniques dating back to Byzantine times. The typical ingredient of glass is recycled, discarded broken glass or bottles. Glass is composed primarily of Silica that is fused at high temperatures, between 500 Cº and 1650Cº depending on the mixture. Neither solid nor liquid, glass is fused to a liquid form, which gives it the consistency of honey and is then cooled to a rigid state. When cold, it can be carved. Glass can be translucent or opaque. It’s an amorphous substance, composed of highly unstable molecules. There’s a quality of glass that is high in sodium content; known as waterglass, it dissolves in water like syrup.

The glassmaker knows the interaction between hot and cold, and the process from liquid to solid. The glassblower’s magic lies in the ability to turn something unstructured into a defined shape that is functional and has a clearly defined identity. He’s been doing this for many years. Today, he travels internationally to pass on the secrets of his craft to the new generations of glassblowers, and to show his work in galleries around the world. He belongs to a small community that is tied to ancient traditions. Glass was first made in the Middle East, during the 3rd millennium BC but today, the craft branches into the spheres of high-art, still retaining all the allure of ancient times.