Belgian

I am an industrial engineer in electro mechanics. I work for the industry where I supervise projects. Outside of my job, I also like to realize my own hand made projects. In 2012 I decided to start at IKA Mechelen. A school for art and craft where I chose the general art glass training program with the extra option of glass blowing. During the last 10 years, I learned techniques such as sawing, grinding, polishing, engraving, casting, slumping, .... Pretty soon I realized that I liked glass blowing very much. Given my education, I am quite interested in technical items and how you can achieve technically excellent creations. Gradually I started to improve my glassblowing skills. I also started designing and making tools to support my goals in glassblowing. My designs start from a few sketches on paper. Then I bring it into a 3D model that I design with the 3D mechanical drawing package Autodesk Inventor. This allows me to view the model from all sides, make compositions, and determine proportions without precious blowing time being involved. It allows me to view, within certain limits, the final shape so I can refine it where necessary. As a benefit, I can also use this model to design the necessary calibers that are needed to check the work pieces during the glass blowing sessions. Then I make these moulds, calibers and tools on a CNC milling machine, a 3D printer or on a conventional lathe and/or milling machine. In 2022 I graduated at the IKA in Mechelen with the installation “Glass is Frozen Music”. This is the work I want to exhibit for the Stanislav Libenský Award 2022. In my current work I try to bring together glass, color, light, shadow, proportions and composition to bring unique installations to life.