In 2012 I was offered the chance to work with the Artists Access to Art Colleges scheme which I heartily recommend. It gave me the access to a glass studio that I needed. That year I was commissioned to make a faceted bowl for the Craft’ Council Handling Collection. It is a faceted wooden bowl on three legs, reminiscent of a Japanese lacquered rice bowl. It was turned and filled the bowl to the brim with hot glass, to the point of overflowing. The glass scorches the bowl black as it is poured directly into the wet wood. In glassmaking processes, hot glass is often shaped and controlled using faceted bowls with handles, much like the traditional Japanese rice bowl.
The interesting thing about making something for the handling collection is that people will touch it. This sounds obvious but so many craft objects are to expensive or fragile to handle, and the materials are disconnected from the hand, the human scale. This piece allows you to feel the warmth of the carbonized wood, in contrast to the cold glossiness of the glass in its natural state, and to hold the surface to your face to look into the glass.