Last updated at 12:00, Tuesday, 04 September 2012

AN Ulverston based glass artist has showcased her work at a prestigious event.

AWARD-WINNER: Katy Holford from Cumbria Crystal SUBMITTED

Katy Holford, who works at Cumbria Crystal, was among 62 artists to show at the British Glass Biennale.

Ms Holford is the creative and managing director at the firm and is the sole remaining factory hand making full lead crystal in the UK.

As most artists work in the confines of their studio, the British Glass Biennale was introduced as an exhibition to recognise the works of artists the UK glass world and expose recent achievements and trends in British glass.

Ms Holford won the Laurent Perrier Design Award in 2004. Ms Holford has worked with brands such as Wedgwood, Czech and Speake, Bliss, and Crabtree and Evelyn.

At Cumbria Crystal, Ms Holford designs bespoke glassware for renowned retailers like Harrods and Thomas Goode, as well as supplying all the Commonwealth embassies with crystal to grace formal dinners.

Artists submit work for selection that has been made in the last two years to a jury of respected collectors, curators, commentators, educators and artists who view all the images anonymously, judging each piece on its own merit. Ms Holford showed Crown Chakra II, from a collection of “spinning tops” in captivating jewel colours, inspired by her quest to find a way to express her spiritual vision.

Influenced by Buddhist culture, the Chakra collection, comprising of seven individual pieces, encapsulates the nature of the body’s chakra energy points within the glass medium.

The molten glass used in these pieces takes it shape by heating and rotating.

Ms Holford said; “Making sculpture is an intensely personal and emotional process for me. Objects hold so much in terms of energy, emotion and spirituality.

“I want to communicate these subtleties through colour, form and qualities of surface treatment.

“The final pieces are hand blown, with the colours layered by using inside casing and overlays building up a depth.

“This is similar to the way our emotions overlay each other, for instance the way grief sometimes hides below anger.

“So I use semi opaque colours, which lightly mask other deeper more vibrant colours.

“More than anything these pieces represent for me the joy of being alive and the beauty that life can show us.”

First published at 11:57, Tuesday, 04 September 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk