I now have over ten years of experience of working with glass. My glass journey began with a Christmas present, a microwave kiln. I started making small pieces and soon realised I wanted to learn more. I enrolled on some glass courses, joined facebook groups and watched lots of videos. I was hooked. I bought my first kiln in 2014. Since then, I have had the privilege to learn from some real masters in glass, sometime travelling overseas to their studios. Now I am developing my own techniques and I have my personal style.

 

I am a biologist by training, so glass fusing is quite different from my day job, although I am always amazed at how useful a scientific training is when trying to work with glass. The physics of glass can be testing and many reactions occur when you combine colours. Also, some of my favourite designs have been inspired by nature.

 

I love making jewellery, trying to produce unique pieces that costumers can treasure. Recently, I have started working with fine silver, so I can make the silver bails for my pendants. I also love sculpting glass, building three dimensional pieces that have an organic feel. I have been building a collection of insect inspired pieces. My pieces do not necessarily aim at representing insects in detail, but they capture what for me is the essence of a particular species. Therefore, the pieces are often abstract, but an entomologist should be able to guess the name of the species or group of insects that is represented.

 

The pieces are made with different forms of glass (sheet, powder and frits), some are fused several times to achieve depth and texture, others use 3-D printing and casting techniques. Lately I have been making nudibranchs (sea slugs). When I used to dive in the mediterranean, I used to love finding these small and graceful creatures. The glass sea slugs require manipulation of the glass at high temperature to achieve three dimensional shapes, an exciting and rewarding technique.

 

I share the love of glass with other artists, some of which are now great friends. A group of us have been working together for several years, with regular weekend retreats solely dedicated to explore and experiment. I can honestly say that glass has brought much joy to my life. It is a great complement to my scientific work, it brings many opportunities to further my knowledge and it puts me in contact with some amazing people.