The Glass Mirror Design by Yasemin Sayinsoy

Yasemin Sayinsoy, as one of the founders of 'Camekan' brand and students of The Glass Furnace, made a design of glass mirror for glassblowing project of 2007. 120 cm round "Self Portrait with Multiples" design, displays how successful women are in glassblowing and how unique objects they can create. The design reminds the visitors of the school to SMILE when they look themselves in the mirror.

Heart Bridge Children at the Glass Furnace

12 children of Heart Bridge project by Turkish Ministry of Education and Turkcell GSM Corporate, visited The Glass Furnace. Children from eastern Anatolia and have never been to Istanbul were fascinated by how glass rods turn to colored glass beads and masters blow glass like a baloon. They all stated that they are excited of telling about the magic of glass when they go back home.

Turkcell Call Center Members Blew Glass

Call center members of Turkcell, Turkish leading GSM operator, met the magical world of glass on Saturday, June 28. Members first witnessed the birth of glass through glass whirling dervish and hot glass shows. Then each participant tried blowing glass and made their owv vases. Before leaving the green campus of the school, all members came to consensus that they should visit us to continue the passion of glass.

Company Retreat of YE Stock Exchange Company

YE Stock Exchange Company employees were at the campus on June 14 for their retreat activities. The employees first split into groups and joined activity competitions such as pipe-water activity, catapult activity. The most exciting activity was the raft actvity. Eaxh group made a raft using plastic pipes and then used to cross the Riva River. Each group had a captain and took other members to the other side of the river. The group that made the raft first and crossed the river first was the winner of the day. Groups also watched a demonstration at the hotshop and visited showrooms. YE Stock Exchange Company left The Glass Furnace after having such fun day.

We hosted The Culture Committee of TURSAB

We hosted members of TURSAB (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies) Culture Committee on March 21 and therefore had the chance of introducing our school and activities in details. After we made presentations of hotshop, beadmaking and fusing studios, we once more underlined that The Glass Furnace is a great alternative for cultural trips. Before leaving the school all members came to consensus that The Glass Furnace is a unique place full of glass in Turkey.

Japanese Glass Artists at The Glass Furnace

Japanese glass artists Ushio Konishi, Fujika Enami ve Fumi Atsuuro visited The Glass Furnace on March 9 after their workshop in Fine Arts Department of Anatolian Universtiy, Eskisehir. The glass artists also made a demonstration in the hotshop and donated their work made in filigrano technique. Before leaving, the glass artists stated how they enjoyed being at our school.

Rob Stern: You know what I mean?

The glass artist Rob Stern created a great work 'You Know What I Mean?' with 8th session glassblowing students Yasemin Sayınsoy, Gamze Araz Eskinazi ve Giray Ertaş. The glassblowing work is on campus of The Glass Furnace awaiting visitors.

The Glass Mosaic Workshop by Sonia King

The glass mosaic workshop as the last session of 2007 intensive courses began by Sonia King on Sunday, October 14. During the one week workshop, all participants will be offered an elevated sense of what mosaic is all about and the knowledge to enable them to push to the next level. The participants will exhibit all their work on the last day of the session, Saturday, October 20. Ath the exhibition, all participants will share their work with each other as well as the visitors on that day.

Shadow Play for Kids at The Glass Furnace

The Glass furnace hosted kids on October 6th and 7th for Shadow Play. Kids from the Society for the Protection of Children were also at the campus to join these great days. Kids watched the Shadow Play after the BBQ joy by the river. They also had the chance of seeing the production of glass objects and colorful beads, and made their own fused plates. At the end of the day, all kids were very pleased to spend a day full of joy and glass.

Your Thoughts Are Engraved On The Glass Bubbles

We can engrave your own on these thougth bubbles. They make great gifts or decorations for homes or gardens. Please see our instollation “from Pamina Traylor & Eddie Bernard class 2007” on the way to the river, in the “Çapi’s Garden”

GLASS WHIRLING DERVISH SHOW

The Glass Furnace organized a great glass show by James Minson along with a whirling dervish on Saturday, July 7. During the show, James Minson created the new interpritation of his own glass whirling dervish design and dervish performed his 'sema' show. The Glass Furnace had the great pleasure to host glass lovers at this spectacular show.
Please click to see the images of the show.

Watch Dervish Show @

Raku Workshop At The Glass Furnace

Sara Aji; one of the famous ceramic artists and her students visited The Glass Furnace. They had the chance to making Raku which is a traditional Japanese ceramic technique. After the raku they joined the fusing workshop and made a panel or plate using colorful plain glasses. Sara Aji and her students enjoyed their day at the Glass Furnace. Please click for the images of Raku.

We Had Guests From The Museum of Glass in Tacoma

The Museum Of Glass in Tacoma Washington trustees Murray Nelson, Rodney Rich and their spouses visited The Glass Furnace on May 25 during their İstanbul trip. They had the opportunity to see about our activities and to watch our workshops. They were also informed of our activities and contribution to the Turkish glass art. They enjoyed their day at the Glass Furnace and it was our honor to host them.

OIL LAMPS FOR MOTHER'S DAY

Oil Lamps - 2

Oil Lamps - 1

Meral Değer, one of jewellery and glass designers and winners of Golden Jewellery Design Award by World Gold Council, designed new and special oil lamps for Mother's Day. All the oil lamps are made at The Glass Furnace. Oil lamps are designed in various colors and sold either in two or three-pieces. Each piece sembolizes a mother and her children. If you are seeking a symbolic present, these unique oil lamps are great options for Mother's Day.

The Deep Blue: A New and a Significant Design At The Glass Furnace

HEYECAN URAL, stained glass and fusing artist, has made a special design for The Glass Furnace. “The Deep Blue” piece was designed by Heyecan Ural and its rondelles were blowned by our master IZZET OZDEMIR. We would like to express our gratitude for their work and committment.

Leaning a Ladder Up To The Moon

Meral Deger, turned her project of 'Leaning a Ladder Up To The Moon' into the glass with the glass artist Ben Wright during her training at The Glass Furnace. Deger also has a jewelry collection with the same concept and name that represents Turkey at the international jewelry exhibition in Bremen, Germany. Deger achived Trakya Birlik Design Award in 1996, Golden Jewelry Design Award in 1997 and 1998. She created her collection with the concept of 'Moon' and therefore named it as 'Leaning a Ladder Up To The Moon'. She was inpired by the words of Einstein "I like to know that the moon still exists even if I am not looking at it".
Click to view the glass project of 'Leaning a Ladder Up To The Moon' being exhibited at The Glass Furnace.

The Flamenco Dance of Glass at The Glass Furnace

The Glass Furnace had a great flamenco dance show of Defne Enç and the glass show of Petr Novotny and Rob Stern on Saturday, September 16. Through the dance show, Defne Enç performed flamenco at the same time experimented with extending the limits of modern flamenco. The Glass Furnace had the great pleasure to host glass lovers at this spectacular show. Please click to view the photos of The Flamenco and Glass Show.

Turkey's first "Glass Fashion Show" by The Glass Furnace

The Glass Furnace hold Turkey's first "Glass Fashion Show" on August 23, at Feshane Meeting and Convention Center. At The Glass Fashion Show, professional models exhibited special glass objects made by masters of The Glass Furnace. The costumes of the models were designed by Turkey's leading fashion designer Cemil İpekçi. Total 38 hand-made glass objects representing traditional or contemporary Turkish glass art were presented through spectacular music and light choreography by Uğurkan Erez team. Please click to view the photos of the Glass Fashion Show..

Erwin Eisch, One of the Founders of Studio Glass, Visited The Glass Furnace

Erwin Eisch, one of the founders of studio glass and one of the leading names in glass art was in Istanbul last week as the guest of The German Consulate in Istanbul. He presented a slide show of "The movement of Studio Glass". He shared his works on studio glass and stressed the contributions of The Glass Furnace that started studio glass movement in Turkey. Erwin Eisch and his wife Gretel Eisch were hosted at the Glass Furnace on May 19, 20 and 21 and they were informed of our activities. During his visit here, he watched works of glass blowing students, made some paintings and shared his experience on glass. Erwin Eisch gave advices on improving studio glass in Turkey. He also stated that The Glass Furnace plays a significant role in improving the glass art and pleased to visit such a great glass school in Turkey.
Erwin Eisch was the pioneer and spiritual father of the studio glass movement in Europe. His pieces are being exhibited in more than 70 museums all over the world. His glass works are mainly glass statutes and glass portrait heads. His works still provide great impulses and inspiration for many glass artists.

A Glass Zoo in Taksim Subway Station

The Glass Furnace who has been bringing people together through different projects, pioneered an international social responsibility project in Turkey with the American glass artist Mark Eckstrand. The artist had carried out this project in various countries such as USA, Russia and Latvia. Within the project in Turkey, underprivilaged children who live in Beykoz region first visited the zoo and painted pictures of the animals. Then they transformed the pictures into glass tiles with the assistance of Turkish and international artists. Finally, the mural was installed in the Taksim Subway Station and the dedication of the mural was held with the participation of the Mayor of Beykoz, Muharrem Ergül along with the children, artists, press and the guests. The project run by the Glass Furnace and Beykoz Municipality was supported by various contries from Turkey and abroad.

Contrabass at 1200ºC

  
   The Glass Furnace keeps on getting people together with unusual events.This time, the play named Contrabass was performed in the hotshop of the school by Metin Belgin -who is a well-known Turkish actor- and the Italian master who taught at the Glass Furnace made a graal piece painted by the famous Turkish artists İsmail Acar -who is invited to exhibit his works in Venice during the Biennial. Prior to the performance, Acar painted the musician and his contrabas on glass with is own style and Salvadore transformed the painting to a glass object. There was a lot of interest in the performance as it brought together three masters and the audience was impressed with Metin Belgin's performance who has never acted on such a hot stage.

Venetian Maestro Lino Tagliapietra Visited the Glass Furnace

Lino Tagliapietra
Lino Tagliapietra Lino Tagliapietra, one of the most important glassblowing masters in the world was at the Glass Furnace. The artist was born on the Murano Island in 1934. He became a maestro at the age of 21 and his works has been exhibited in the most important glass art museums and included in many collections. Apart from the Glass Furnace, he visited the historical and touristic places in İstanbul as well and he mentioned that he was impressed with the school and the city. During his visit to the school, he shared his comments with the management, he viewed the glass art pieces produced by artists from all over the world and he watched the demonstration made by the Glass Furnace master İzzet.

2nd International Bosphorus Glass Fest Brought Together World-Renowned Masters and Artists…

Jiri Suhajek
Glass Fest Glass, which is one of the oldest materials shaped by men, found life with the Bosphorus Glass Fest on October 11,2003. This international festival, which is the first of its kind in Turkey and arranged by Üsküdar Rotary Club brought together important glass artists and masters from different countries at the Glass Furnace, İstanbul.

Tobias Mohl
Davide Salvadore The festival took place between 08:00-16:00 on October 11, 2003 at the Glass Furnace and masters from Denmark, Germany, Poland, Italy, Belarus, Portugal, Ucraina, Czech Republic and Turkey participated the festival. The festival was sponsored by Doluca and Beck's and each participating master presented his talents within two hours. During this unusual marathone, the audience had a chance to witness the shaping of glass in different styles. The festival was open to everybody who is interested in glass and they were able to watch this marathone in the hot shop at the Glass Furnace. Please click here to get more visual content about the activity.

Another Spectacular Event At The Glass Furnace; Glass Meets The Philosophy Of Mevlana

Demonstration
James Minson - Lampworking The Glass Furnace of Istanbul which is on its way to becoming one of the leading Glass Schools of the world is bringing the glass art lovers together with unusual events. Within the last event that took place at the end of the 3rd session, Michael Rogers, who taught glassblowing at the Glass Furnace made a glass dervish and during this demonstration, a dervish performed his spritual seremony that carried along the universal messages of love and the Philosophy of Mevlana. Don't Blow Warwinds, Blow Glass', 'Reflections From Glass' and 'The Mexican Rooster' were the previous events that took place at the Glass Furnace.