Glass blowing in the 21st century? Here is an original Hungarian glass blowing master

The glass we use day by day has a long history behind. As Caius Plinius – Roman author and polyhistor – said the glass was discovered by mere accident by Phoenician traders. It was around 5000 B.C. next to the river Belo that they landed in Syria where they camped down and lit a campfire, put their pots on the top of the saltpeter blocks they carried as cargo. The saltpeter melted due to the warmth of the fire and mixed with the sand of the shore, generating a new, see-through matter – Tropcial magazine report and interview.

The first findings, which are dated back to the 4th millennium B.C., were not quite as beautiful as today’s glasses.

They almost completely lacked the property that gives the essence of glass today: transparency. The antique glass was actually a glassy enamel, its appearance was blurred and almost always tinted.

They started to use glass for coating and decorating the household objects in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium B.C. It was in the 1st century B.C., that they discovered glass blowing in Palestine, which enabled more sophisticated and more complex techniques. The Romans occupied a major role in the development of craftsmanship thanks to producing the design of templates for glass blowing. Around 100 B.C., the possible production scale was enlarged to a greater extent and they created the geometric shapes that are now called the Roman glass.

In the Roman Empire – and during Emperor Augustus’ reign – glass was used as an architectural piece, among others in windows and glass domes too, for example in the famous baths of Agrippina.

Around 500-600 the art of glass processing began to develop rapidly as the new procedure of flat glass production was invented. In Egypt they developed the production of Roman glass, experimented with gilding and in Mesopotamia the first school was established where they worked on making cut glass. Two hundred years later the developed technics were written down in many codices and talented craftsmen appeared across Europe, in France, Germany, England and Russia. In the 10th century, it was already Venice that played the leading role; Murano, the Mecca of Venetian glass production is still immensely popular.

Over time, more and more sophisticated and modern techniques were found and started to be used creating greenhouses, galleries, conservatories, and later ornaments or decorative objects. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Libbey-Owens process, the Pittsburgh process and the manufacture of float glass were born. However, something has not changed in the face of many innovations: the love of the ancient craft of glass blowing and the little mystery surrounding it.

Interview

In Tropical interview, Zoltán Vasvári, glass blowing master is guiding us to his profession and telling us about where he met the craft, how much time is required to finish a piece of work and how he sees the glass blowing scene and future.