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Cielo mio means "my heaven" in Spanish and is a term of endearment, used in the same way that English speakers use "my darling".

Richard Tilbury makes kiln-formed decorative glassware. (A technique known also as "warm glass" or "glass fusing & slumping").

From a small studio in Willesden, London, production is kept small scale, with each piece being unique.

Inspirations are drawn from nature and influenced by artists such as Gustav Klimt, Antoni Gaudi, Joan Miro and Antoni Tapies.

About

Working in glass is an escape from working in IT!

Richard is completing a part-time PhD on the use of propaganda images against the Spanish empire during the renaissance at Birkbeck's Departent of Iberian and Latin American Studies (ILAS). Being one with a laptop for so many hours drives the need to make rather than stare and write.

Influences

Inspirations come from the nature, especially the marine world.

Artistic influences are distincly Catalan - Miro and Tapies - with a touch of Klimt and more than a hint of Japanese Wabi-Sabi

Designs are organic and fractal and play with the way light interacts with the glass.

Process

Each piece is designed, the glass cut and then assembled in the kiln.

The first stage is to heat the glass to 796 degrees Celsius to fuse it. The glass is then annealed at 510 degrees Celsius before being cooled slowly. This process takes about eight to nine hours.

The second stage is for the glass is thermo-formed, or "slumped", into a mould to shape it. Again this process takes another eigth to ten hours.

Pieces can be lost during the heating and cooling as stresses in the glass may cause it to crack.

Resources

Links

Useful Texts

Philippa Beveridge's book is an excellent introduction. The book has some good turtorials and provides lots of inspiration.

Keith Cummings gives a good balance of inspiration by showcasing artists, along with a dissection of various methods.