This article was first published in the September 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Glass may seem fragile, but making it is hard work, according to British glassmaker Michael Ruh. "Often glassmaking is perceived as a delicate process," says Ruh, who has been handblowing glass in his south London studio for 20 years. "But you are manipulating the glass, it's a really forceful and physical endeavour." The cliché he hears most often is about it being described as a dance. "It's like that to a certain extent," he says, "but only if you think of dancers training for a performance, sweating their nuts off to look graceful."
A small glass could take as little as ten minutes, whereas Ruh's biggest project -- a chandelier comprising more than 220 glass tubes -- took two and a half months. The tools of the trade haven't changed much, but the methods vary from place to place. Ruh takes the Scandinavian approach, making his creations while sitting down and using his workbench as another tool for shaping. Take a look inside his studio.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
