Martin Andrews
by Brenda Ross
To watch Martin Andrews of Stourbridge make a piece of hand-blown contemporary glass is to see real craftsmanship. With the time and concentration given to each piece, it is not surprising that his work is collected for its beauty and as an investment for the future. Since 1992 he has been building a reputation for high quality and attention to detail alongside his innovative design ideas and surface treatments.
Much of Martin's work is inspired by nature, particularly sunsets and water. 'Water is rather like molten glass,' he says. 'I'm influenced to imitate movement within the coloured glass, freezing a moment in time.' He makes his pieces in collections, each featuring bowls, vases and perfume bottles in a range of sizes and prices.
His early inspiration came from working with a Swedish glass artist. He had originally taken an art foundation course. 'They let us play around with glass,' says Martin, 'and I enjoyed working with this medium. There are more options with glass;
it has a fourth dimension - it can be transparent, translucent or opaque.'
He took a degree course in glass at West Surrey College of Art and Design, now the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, and through a contact at the college went to Sweden to work with Asa Brandt, one of the pioneers of studio glass in Europe and its first independent studio glass artist. 'I wanted to learn more about glass,' says Martin. 'It was a cotton wool atmosphere at college; they deal with the creative skills, but I wanted to know what to do with those skills once I had them. Asa Brandt had no formal training, and she had an individual approach to glass. She taught me how to explore the medium; I see glass as a tool. She also works in glass architecturally and we worked on projects for hospitals and an airport while I was there. This has led to me developing my own work on architectural commissions in addition to the hand-blown glass side of the business.'
Martin spent two periods in Sweden: a year between his second and third years at college, and another year after finishing college. He then worked for seven years at the London Glassblowing Workshop, working with well-known contemporary glass artist Peter Layton in addition to producing his own work. 'It was always my intention to set up on my own, but it was a huge step,' he says.
In 2000 he took that step and returned to his native Midlands.
At first he hired workshops in Stourbridge, known as the Glass Quarter of Birmingham, then in 2001 became part of the Ruskin Glass Centre there. The premises used to be the Royal Doulton glass factory; when it closed, the Ruskin Mill Educational Trust took over the buildings to create Glasshouse College, which provides innovative and experiential education for young people with a range of learning difficulties, developed from the inspiration of Rudolf Steiner, William Morris and John Ruskin. Part of the same site became the Ruskin Centre, where a range of craftspeople have studios and help teach the young adults at the college. Martin teaches one day a week.
Setting up from scratch now would cost at least £40,000 for all the equipment Martin has. He works with lead crystal, melted in a furnace kept at a temperature of 1080oC. The furnace is seldom turned off, and has been firing for the last two years. With such built-in heating, Martin can wear shorts and T-shirt for work for 10 months of the year.
He gathers glass from the furnace, melts crushed coloured glass into the surface, and for some of his ranges cases clear glass on top so that the colour is trapped between the two layers. Although he appears to dip the lump of molten glass randomly into the coloured glass,
it is all planned and built up from experience, to know the effect that will be created when he blows and manipulates the glass, reheating it and shaping it using jacks and wet newspaper. The result is that each range has a common design, but because every speck of colour will never end up in precisely the same place, each piece is unique.
'It takes longer to build up the decoration on the molten glass than to blow the form,' he says. Each piece can take anything from half-an-hour to one-and-a-half hours to make. Each finished piece goes into a kiln at 4200C, and when full the kiln is cooled down over 12 hours, so that the glass is annealed.
'My work has evolved with experience,' says Martin. 'I grew up thinking glass had to be transparent and smooth; then I realised that it didn't. I work more with texture now. For a long time I was making vessels; now I am creating more sculptural, less functional, pieces.'
He sees the evolution of his work traced through his ranges, from the Salsa Collection (blended colour with premade millefiore glass cane and trapped air) to the Stone Collection (pebble-inspired forms with a stone effect) to the Magma Collection (with a cracked effect) to Erosion (a coloured, textured, sandblasted and carved outer surface). His pieces can cost anything from £50 to £2,500.
'I feel I have reached the stage where I can spend longer on special pieces,' he says, 'because I am reaching collectors who appreciate the subtleties of texturing glass in ways that bring across its extraordinary versatility as a medium. The Erosion pieces, for example, require a series of complex processes.'
The Erosion Collection is restricted to a few galleries and private clients who collect his work and look for something new. He launches one collection a year, developing new work in January when business is quieter. He exhibits at a few public events each year but sells mainly through galleries in the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada. He has been commissioned to produce work for film and television companies, and has worked with interior designers on architectural projects for hotels, offices and boardrooms, a school and hospital, as well as producing hand-blown glass corporate awards and trophies for companies and events.
Martin is increasing the amount of architectural work he produces. One of his more recent pieces was a cross for St John's Church in Ladywood, Birmingham. Nearly two-and-a-half metres high and weighing 150 kg, it hangs from a beam in the side crypt and is made up of layers of sheet glass, each horizontal piece of the cross alternated with a vertical piece. On the first layer are silver 'tears', and on the second and third layers are hands, sand blasted and engraved, some based on the hands of members of the church congregation. This stunning piece of work was completed and hung in May 2004.
Martin offers private lessons, to members of the public or to students taking a glass course who would like to spend more time on glassblowing. The three-hour lessons are usually held in the evening, and cost £75 for one or £350 for a block of five.
Students cannot hope to produce such skilful work as his, but couldn't have a better and more inspiring teacher. 'I like beautiful things,' says Martin, 'and try to make work that I like and would enjoy owning.'
Many others must enjoy owning his work, too.
Martin Andrews Glass Design
The Ruskin Glass Centre
Wollaston Road
Amblecote
Stourbridge
DY8 4HE
Tel: 01384 399462
