We are a wife and husband team who work together designing, producing and marketing glass art. We trade as ‘Joia Glass’ – a name that comes from Joy’s nickname from her country of birth, Brazil, and from the meaning of that name in Portuguese: a jewel. We thought that was a good association for the type of glass that we enjoy making: colourful, light catching, many facetted, precious. And the ‘joy’ element is also important in reflecting the enjoyment we hope to bring to people through the pieces we make – and the enjoyment we get from making it.
The process we chose to produce these artefacts is kiln-forming or fusing, placing pieces of glass in a kiln, heating, fusing and bending them using programmed heating and cooling in the enclosed kiln, sometimes incorporating other materials. This is distinct from blown glass, where the maker works with hot glass to form pieces in his or her hands. Kiln forming is the original way glass was made, dating back thousands of years. Now we use modern technology such as computerised timers, modern kilns and materials like dichroic glass, used by NASA to coat space-helmet visors. We chose this process because we feel that it presents a wide range of possibilities for what is a most versatile material. Glass is used as anything from an extremely strong and durable building material to beautiful and elegant jewellery or art. Kiln forming allows the artist to develop the possibilities of the material, and to explore the “threads, continuities, paradoxes, coincidences and re-discoveries that exist within the history of glass-forming” (Keith Cummings : Techniques of Kiln-Formed Glass).
Our output is varied and sometimes challenging, using the properties of glass at different temperatures and the wide range of colours and materials available to the modern artist. Sometimes keeping the textures of individual pieces and shards of glass, or melting and fusing them to give depth and interest. We want to experiment and push the boundaries and hope that the people who see our work will appreciate these qualities and enjoy our work as much as we enjoy making it. Since we started in 2007 we have made a wide range of products, from small personal items of jewellery or objets d’art to large bespoke designs for outdoor or indoor decoration. We welcome commissions and special requests, (of all shapes and sizes within the limitations of our kilns). Delivery or collection can be arranged as required. Also: Our work can be seen in various galleries in the UK and we also sell our work at selected Art, Craft & Design shows (see our schedule). All the pieces we make are one-offs but if you have seen a piece and it has been sold we would be only too pleased to make a similar design especially for you.