Grant and Eileen travelled to Europe in May 2024 for GAS Conference Berlin with the Glass Art Society. Glass enthusiasts travelled from around the world, with plenty to see from the sparkling glass panes of the Reichstag Dome, to the iconic murals of Berlin’s East Side Gallery.

The four-day conference focused on the space where art meets design, the synergy between the two, and the relationships between artists and designers, bringing together over 75 presenters to connect, inspire, and empower all facets of our global glass community.

“It was a lovely opportunity to meet artists from all of over world,” said Eileen.

“It was great to see and learn about different techniques, technology and equipment. It makes you realise how isolated we are in Australia – but also reminds us that we are right up there in terms of quality, individuality, originality and imagination.”

After Berlin, Grant and Eileen travelled to Denmark.

Visiting Holmegaard Glass Works 75 kilometres southwest of Copenhagen, we learned more about their incredible story.

After hundreds of years, their industry came to an abrupt end in 2009. The global financial crisis exposed inefficiencies that had to stop. Hundreds of workers were given minutes to leave. The glass works was closed. The enormous furnaces were turned off and left with massive amounts of glass still in them that slowly cooled and cracked up like a dying dinosaur. It all sat there derelict for years avoiding demolition.

In 2020, it was decided to make it a museum to respect the history the people the skills the dedication and the love. Now it stands as a wonderful monument. It is an astounding world class museum. It has been brought into the future. There is a cutting edge glass blowing studio with the most efficient electric furnace powered by solar panels where artists from around the world can collaborate on works of art. The glass displays are incredible and show the evolution of glass.

“It was a great reminder of how the history of glass dates back so far – and fantastic to visit sunch an institution as Holmegaard, the village for factory workers hundreds of years. Today it is a beautiful modern studio run on solar panels.”

From there, we visited a tiny studio in a container city in Copenhagen at BLÆS Reffen Glass Studio in Copenhagen.