The exhibition is a joint effort by workshop of Studio Perović from Faculty of  Architecture, UL and Steklarna Hrastnik. It is a physical manifest of the workshop – a sculpture comprised of objects, a glass totem symbolising the collective summation of the seminar’s research efforts. The collaboration is also a farewell to glass blowing department of Steklarna Hrastnik.

Every year, as part of the studio work, the seminar organises a workshop that commonly deals with design, an alternative format to primary studio work, architectural design. Design workshops are made up of groups of students of varying years – over the course of a few weeks they work on the project applying different scales and thought processes; but unlike the ‘standard’ academic projects these projects also include communication with the producer, the opportunity to take part in the process of making, and the possibility to influence the production process and any modifications to it.

This year’s workshop topic of glass blowing was organised in cooperation with and the support of the Steklarna Hrastnik glass factory, whose history goes back more than 150 years. The glass blowing trade has been present in the Hrastnik area for centuries. The original artisanal glass blowing trade later came to include automated, mechanised poured-glass production, which came to constitute the factory’s main operation. Today the factory largely (mass)produces glass tableware for foreign clientele.

The theme of glass design was chosen for two reasons: first, the elasticity of glass at high temperatures that allows for different design techniques to be employed; and its potential to combine contemporary design and traditional glass blowing.

The workshop started from the position that preserving, researching and developing traditional artisanal knowledge allows for new, alternative future scenarios for a range of industries, including glass blowing. We understand the development of traditional glass blowing knowledge as a basis on which to build the future of glass blowing in Slovenia. Alongside the obvious demand of local and foreign markets for industrial products there has also been a noticeable increase in interest for unique, specific, and small-scale products that marry traditional craft with contemporary design sensibilities and techniques.

One of the goals of the workshop was to break from the standard designing–production process that simply produces a predictable object from an advanced finished ‘project’. Most of the products began with an original idea that was later modified by exploring the material itself and ‘in situ’ glass blowing techniques in front of the furnace. The sum of the predictable, the random, the planned and the experienced give the designed objects their own very specific character.

One important issue the workshop addressed was the fast-disappearing craftsmen and the knowledge that will disappear with them. A lot of unexploited potential in this knowledge and tradition here in Slovenia was clear, as serial production of cheap glass products has become the dominant norm. In the course of one of the last conversations with the partners at the factory it was told, sadly, that all of the old furnaces had already been removed. So the collaboration was a kind of farewell to glass blowing at the Steklarna Hrastnik factory.

The exhibition questions the unique in contrast to the serially produced – the question of a series within the unique; the question of the influence the process of making exerts on the image and meaning of the final product; the question of individual versus the collective production process of the unique; and the meaning and potential for error in the production process and the limits of the making process as a whole.

The topics treated were everyday: lighting, tableware, table décor and conceptual objects that emerged in the course of the research process and out of various glass blowing techniques. More than simply producing final products – designer objects – our chief interest lay in the process of glass blowing, in exploring the qualities of glass in its various states, and the improvisational dimension in the production process, as well as exploring the element of accidental errors as a design theme.

The exhibition is physical manifest of the workshop – a sculpture comprised of objects, a glass totem symbolising the collective summation of the seminar’s research efforts. The exhibition is accompanied by two video projections depicting the process of making and certain distinctive moments involving the displayed objects interacting with other matter – light, colour, steam, liquid, life…

The design objects were produced as a part of the workshop of Studio Perović from Faculty of  Architecture, University of Ljubljana, in collaboration with glassworks Steklarna Hrastnik in January 2018.

Authors: Vasa J. Perović, Jure Grohar, Anja Vidic
Curators: Vasa J. Perović, Anja Vidic, Jure Grohar
Exhibition Design: Vasa J. Perović, Anja Vidic, Jure Grohar,
Žan Šabeder, Gregor Vidmar, Antonia Rubić
Participants: Žan Šabeder, Manuela Zavec, Monika Rečnik, Antonia Rubić, Nikolaj Salaj, Gregor Siročić, Kaja Stopar, Gorana Trbić, Gregor Vidmar, Melani Peer,
Dan David Mravlje Natlačen
Intro: Maja Vardjan
Video: Žan Šabeder, Gregor Vidmar, Gregor Siročić
Photos: Antonia Rubić, Lenart Megušar, Žan Šabeder

Location

MAO
Pot na Fužine 2

Admission

free admission

Info

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Organization

MAO
Faculty of Architecture UL