In June, we were pleased to host a group of students for Work Experience at City & Guilds of London Art School. During their time with us, the students were invited to write blog posts documenting their experience.
Read below about what they learned in our Glass Studio.
“We met Glass Technician Philippa Beveridge in the glass studio. Philippa introduced us to the two wonderful Glass Fellows, Mils Bridgewater and Valentino Vannini. They spoke about their inspirations and their pathways to getting to the stage they are at now. Valentino started in the fashion industry and Mils started in the painting industry, and they both decided to explore glass-making in their practice. They mention that glass is a ‘liquid of finite viscosity’ which describes the resistance of the flow of glass and really interested us as a group.
Phillipa spoke about her projects and what interested her. She discussed one of her works, where she used a breastplate that acted as a canvas which reflected and mirrored the glass pieces while distorting them like memories. Mils showed us a recent piece she is working on, and explained the process of how she made it. She started by pouring wax on a spherical object, and created different textures by layering the wax. She then placed a mold, and heated the wax until it melted to remove it from the mold. She poured the hot glass in the mold until it cooled, and then took it out of the mold. This created a nice texture on the glass that looked like marbled stone. It was fascinating that she mentioned glass being flexible, which is different from the way it is seen as a hard surface, but it’s a nice material to work with.
Another member of the Art School who can be found tinkering with glass is Valentino Vannini. Originally having worked in the fashion industry in Italy, Valentino moved to the UK looking for a change. Interested in representing the tangible weight of objects, Valentino decided to develop his drawing skills, which are crucial in nearly all art disciplines, at the Royal Drawing School. Ironically, Valentino’s first response to glass as a medium was not a necessarily positive one – it didn’t sit well with him. However, the task in trying to manipulate and change glass’s state, no matter how difficult, challenged Valentino’s skills, and soon he became obsessed. Recently, Valentino has utilised glass to its fullest by investigating the idea of boundaries, specifically breakable boundaries. The idea of a wall or fence being constructed from the most delicate of materials is poetic in a sense, raising questions of inclusivity and sensitivity. Valentino’s process for this project is simple – using a regular tealight, he bends strings of glass in a way that they can be meshed to form a fence, then interlaced with pink, flower-like objects. This showed us how accessible glasswork is for people, and that you could make something beautiful like Valentino’s glass fences in the comfort of your own home.
Hearing the stories of Philippa, Mills and Valentino has been really intriguing; the complexity and precision, and yet unpredictable experimentation that goes into glassware is incredible, and I would highly encourage anyone to look into this field if you haven’t already.”
Words and Images by Work Experience Students, Summer 2024
