Glass is a difficult material. Mastering the art of metallurgy requires years of practice as well as talent. Metallurgists from the Lipowa 3 Glass and Ceramics Center, operating at the Łukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Ceramics and Building Materials in Cracow, proved that they lack neither. They created a unique series of artistic glassware called "Marine".
Dishes in the Marine series look like sea creatures, irregular, semi-transparent. This, and the delicate blue color, is probably the inspiration for the name of the "Marine" series. It includes two vases of different sizes, a bowl and a platter. They are proprietary glassware from the Glass and Ceramics Center, which is located in Krakow on Lipowa Street. They were designed and made by the metallurgists there, Krzysztof Chytkowski and Andrzej Czaja.
craftsmanship
The vases were created without the use of a mold, entirely by hand using traditional metallurgical tools: pipes. burghers and reamers. As a result, each piece in this set is unique. You won't find two of the same vases. This is a true craftsmanship masterpiece. The techniques of hand-forming glass have not changed over the centuries. This method can be used to produce both table and art glass. However, it requires knowledge, mastery of the technique and, in the case of art glass, ingenuity. It should also not be forgotten that manual production of glass is hard, physical work. The temperature at which a glassworker works at the smelting furnace is at least 40°C. This makes the vases from Lipova all the more impressive.
Bowl from the "Marine" series ©
© Lipowa Glass and Ceramics Center 3
collector's specimens
Vases, platters and bowls from the "Marine" series were created from a combination of colorless glass and tinted with shades of azure, cobalt and black, using recycled material.The main decorative element here is precisely the color, gently changing into different shades and irregularities of glass and recycled additives. Thanks to the post-production waste used, the "Marine" glasses are part of the trend of "upcycling", that is, using cheap, unnecessary materials to create products of higher value. In this case, the leftovers were used to create glasses that are not only beautiful, but also an interesting collector's object. Especially since the Marine series, due to its artisanal nature, is a limited series. Only 10 pieces of each design were created.
Detail of a vase from the "Marine" series ©.
© Lipowa 3 Glass and Ceramics Center
glass with history
Glass has been present in Lipowa since before the war. The Glass and Ceramics Center on 1931 in the former match factory "Znicz" at 3 Lipowa Street in Zabłocie was established Krakow Glassworks of Eng. L. Bąkowski, D. Chazan and Company. Highly skilled workers came here to work from all over Poland. At Lipowa Street at the time, bottles for wine and mineral water and pharmacy glass were produced primarily, employing 300 to 500 people. After the war and occupation, the glassworks continued to operate. Its period of greatest splendor came in the 1970s. It is associated with the establishment of the Design Department at Lipowa Street in 1969, headed by Jerzy Słuczan-Orkusz, one of the pioneers of industrial design in Poland. The plant designed artistic glassware, which quickly became a recognizable brand. Today, the Lipowa 3 Glass and Ceramics Center continues these traditions. The most important reference to the former activities are demonstrations of hand-formed glass. At Lipowa, you can also see an exhibition of antique glass and glassmaking tools. There is a gallery showing works by contemporary artists, as well as a store selling artistic glass and ceramics.
