Unique glass art exhibit opens in Dubai

Dubai: Feast your eyes on 100 hand-made art-glass vases, coupes, lampshades and other art pieces by renowned French glass blower Jean Claude Novaro in a three-day exhibition which opened on Tuesday night at Royal Treasures Gallery in Dubai. 

Known as the King of Modern Glass, Novaro was joined by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Kayed Al Qassimi, Head of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Economic Department and Member of RAK Ruling family at the opening of the exhibition. 

Making vases from glass is an extremely complicated and laborious task as opposed to making it out of ceramics, which one can do by hand. 

Glass blowing, a technique invented about 2,000 years ago, employs the use of a pipe which is dipped into a pot of molten glass in a furnace whose temperature could be around 2,200 degree Fahrenheit. The glass is then blown from the tube to make it expand into a bubble and shaped according to the glass blower's design in mind. 

Speaking to Gulf News about his craft, Novaro said: "It's very very hot but that's the way it has to be done. I like what I'm doing, so I don't think about the difficulties." 

Novaro, who started glass blowing at an early age of 14, has perfected his craft by way of constantly finding new ways to "stretch the capacity of glass." 

"It's not about the piece and how long it takes [to make one], it's about the technique that has been developed through the years and how every colour was achieved by experimentation and how I have achieved to be able to do all the techniques on the glass," Novaro, 69, said. 

Novaro, who recently moved his art-glass factory in Ras Al Khaimah, holds a Guinness World record for the largest handblown piece ever made.