The History of Glassblowing

While the process of glassblowing has been known to humans for the past two thousand years - and the individual studio movement only began in the past fifty - humans have been using and manipulating this versatile substance since prehistoric times. Early humans used natural glass, such as obsidian, to aid in the production of cutting tools. However, the Egyptians are credited with first using glass as an art form, around 3500 BC, to make beads and glass vases. Up until this point, the glassmakers would use a mold of compacted sand, which would then be dipped into molten glass. While still hot and soft, the glassmakers would roll it on a stone to smooth the glass and decorate it.

Syrian glassmakers were the first to introduce blowing of the glass around 25 BC. Soon after, the Roman empire began to expand and conquer neighboring lands, thereby spreading the technology of glassmaking throughout the European continent. By the Middle Ages, Venice has become the glassmaking center of the western world. The city even went as far as to pass an ordinance in 1271 that banned foreign glassmakers from entering and working in Venice, as it would pose a threat to their craft.

The dawn of the Industrial Revolution transformed glassmaking from a craft into an industry. Several new inventions, such as Friedrich Siemens' tank furnace and Michael Owen's automatic bottle blowing machine, allowed for the mass production of glass pieces. Unfortunately, as glass became more and more of a commercial endeavor, the artist behind the production remained invisible. The Studio Glass Movement, which began in the 1960s, sought to reintroduce the artist with the craft. Before 1960, an individual glassblowing artist could not afford to maintain a furnace hot enough to keep the glass molten. Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labinor worked together to create a smaller kiln, combined with new low melting point glass, to allow artists access to the medium necessary to create their art.