Bernard Heesen Glass bowl in orange · Studio De Oude Horn, The Netherlands · 1980s/90s

Bernard Heesen (born 1958 in Leerdam) is one of the most important contemporary glass artists in the Netherlands. After studying architecture in Delft (1977 to 1984), he decided against building and for glass. His teacher was his own father, Willem Heesen, who founded Studio De Oude Horn in Acquoy near Leerdam in 1977. Bernard Heesen has worked there as an independent artist since 1986, and has managed the studio since 1995 — a workshop that is one of the most prominent addresses in the international studio glass scene and where Lino Tagliapietra and Andries Copier also worked as guest artists at times.

The present bowl dates from Heesen's creative period and is dated to the 1980s to 1990s. It is mouth-blown — at De Oude Horn, all pieces are created in a performative, collaborative work on hot glass, where the randomness of the flowing material deliberately becomes a design tool. This very tension between control and the inherent will of heat is Heesen's trademark.

The bowl presents itself in a warm, saturated orange. The wall flows softly and true to the material, every curve bears the trace of the free glassmaker's hand. With a diameter of 21.5 centimetres and a height of 12 centimetres, the piece has a striking size — clearly a design object, not a mere utility bowl.

A collector's item of Dutch studio glass art, clearly attributable and with character. For all those who are not looking for another vase, but for an independently designed glass object.

Dimensions: Diameter 21.5 cm · Height 12 cm