Timed to coincide with London Craft Week, London Glassblowing’s latest exhibition comes from one of its most experienced artists, Layne Rowe. Refined Elements will include a selection of the Cambridgeshire-based maker’s most acclaimed pieces, as well as showing new work, such as Wings, that has been inspired by childhood memories of his family’s racing pigeons and a subsequent life-long interest in birds.

Rowe, who has worked with London Glassblowing founder Peter Layton for over 25 years, has developed woven forms that are a result of skillful layering and cutting of coloured glass canes. This creates patterns and textures of extraordinary complexity.

His pieces have been exhibited around the globe, notably at the V&A’s groundbreaking Power of Making exhibition in 2011 and the Crafts Council’s annual Collect fair in London. During 2014 he showed alongside Grayson Perry and Alexander McQueen in Subversive Design at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. ‘My work is diverse and complex and sometimes subversive,’ he explains. ‘It will be wonderful to see so many of my pieces collected together in a gallery that has provided the backdrop for so many years of my career.’

Peter Layton’s New Collections at London Glassblowing:

Visitors to London Glassblowing will also be able to see the launch of three new collections from Peter Layton himself as part of its Spring Open House.

Gito is a charitable collection of glass works named after an orphaned orangutan which Peter and his wife Ann adopted whilst travelling in Borneo. Each piece is free-blown capturing the vivid oranges and dark emeralds of the rainforest. London Glassblowing will be donating 20 per cent of all proceeds from the series to OVAID a charity whose mission is to raise awareness of the plight of the orangutan. Tiger Tiger is another collection which was inspired by the pioneering glass artist’s travels, this time in India. Saffron is something of a happy accident. It was created when Layton was trying to find the correct shade of orange for another series. ‘I was developing my new Orangutan series when the orange hue I was trying to attain turned into a delightful – and quite spring-like – shade of yellow. It’s a perfect example of what can happen when you spend time at the furnace,’ says Layton.

During Spring Open House London Glassblowing is open seven days a week:

Mon-Sat – 10am – 6pm

Sunday 5 May and 12 May 11am – 5pm

London Craft Week runs from 8-12 May: www.londoncraftweek.com

To see Out of the Furnace, a short documentary on Layne Rowe by Heist Films: vimeo.com/227440884

For further information, download the press release or contact Cora Kemp.