In its second phase, which began 1 June 2013, GLASS IS TOMORROW – GIT II focuses on further collaboration with high-end glass centers and postgraduate education departments specialized in glass design, in order to increase the quality of glass production in Europe and the awareness of European glass culture, traditions and innovations. The project has evolved to enhance both the pedagogy and the professions of glass design and glassmaking.

Two professional production residencies at the partners’ glass factories (The Glass Factory in Boda (SE) and the CIAV in Meisenthal (FR) have been organized in parallel with a series of three postgraduate workshops involving specialized design schools and glass research centers (École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne, Konstfack, Royal College of Arts in London, and Domaine de Boisbuchet with the Glass Lab™ of the Corning Glass Museum).
 
After these five workshops, this second phase will also include a publication and a planned travelling exhibition – but this is still to be confirmed. Arkitektur- och designcentrum, Stockholm, Sweden, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, Saint-Etienne, France, RCA - Battersea Building Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

WORKSHOP GIT II
[CIAV] Centre International d’Art Verrier, Meisenthal, FR
7-11 July 2014
www.glassistomorrow.eu
ASSOCIATED PARTNERS
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
- Professional workshop in Meisenthal, France, 7-11 July 2014, with CIAV (Centre International d’Art Verrier)
- Postgraduate workshop in London, United Kingdom, spring 2015, with The Royal College of Art (RCA) and Vessel Gallery

PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS
- Professional workshop in Sweden, 7-12 July 2013 at Boda with The Glass Factory
- Postgraduate workshop in France, 8-14 September 2013 at Domaine de Boisbuchet with CIRECA (Centre International de Recherche
et d’Education Culturelle et Agricole), the Corning Glass Museum and the GlassLab™
- Mixed professional and postgraduate workshop in Saint-Just-Saint Rambert, France, 19-23 May 2014, with Saint-Just Glassworks
(Saint-Gobain Group), ESADSE (École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Etienne) and the Cité du Design Saint-Etienne

THE MEISENTHAL GLASSWORKS
The Meisenthal glassworks, established in 1704 in the northern Vosges Mountains of eastern France, was witness from 1867 through 1894 to the fantastic creativity of Émile Gallé, a recognised leading light at the Ecole de Nancy. The glassworks, which counted as many as 650 employees and produced millions of consumer items each year, closed its doors in 1969, leaving behind only memories of a vanished industrial adventure. In 1992, on the disused site that was once the Meisenthal glassworks, and very close to the Museum of Glass, the first furnace was relit. The Centre International d’Art Verrier (CIAV) Meisenthal saw the light of day.
Discussing folk traditions and collecting the tangible and intangible memories of a way of life are essential responsibilities. Beyond that, the challenge is to try to place this heritage within the culture, to re-introduce it into its era. The CIAV, an interface structure, blends tradition, innovation and rooted culture as well as contemporary issues, creativity and industrial applications in research, exhibitions, creation and production. This approach reflects the phenomenal potential the traditional trades carry within themselves, when they are brought face to face with the dream of modernity.
> conservation
Transmission of know-how by former glassmakers,
safeguarding and storing of old moulds and tools,
historical research. + Meisenthal Museum of Glass
> mediation
Demonstrations of glassworks that complement the
visit to the Museum of Glass, exhibitions, teaching
sessions for young audiences.
 
INVITED DESIGNERS
photo credit: Guido Mieth
Norayr Khachatryan (BE)
www.studiokhachatryan.com
Pawel Grobelny (PL)
http://pawelgrobelny.com/
Mark Braun (DE)
www.markbraun.org
Sema Topaloglu (TR)
www.sematopaloglu.com
Adrien Rovero (CH)
http://adrienrovero.com/
Studio Monsieur (FR)
Manon Leblanc -Romain Diroux
www.studiomonsieur.com
INVITED GLASSBLOWER
Christophe Genard (BE)
 
DESIGN BRIEF
THEME: ‘SILENT LUXURY, GLASS DESIGN FOR EVERYONE’
Is the luxury market the only way to safeguard the arts applied in design-led crafts?
In contrast to mass production, which results in low-cost items for a global market, must the design-led crafts automatically adopt an inverse position and create only objects sold at unreasonably high prices? On the contrary, at CIAV Meisenthal we believe that the challenge must be to create design for everyone, invoking the magic of place and secular know-how. While there are no constraints for designing expensive objects – for galleries and collectors -, it is much harder to imagine high quality glass objects sold at prices that are accessible to a larger audience. This will be the theme of the Meisenthal workshop : to imagine in situ, within the heart of a factory being reborn, objects that are ingenious, attractive and innovative, by optimising or revisiting the processes and tools of traditional production that have been made available. Simply “design”, but without excluding the history of the site, and the beauty of the movements and rituals of the glassmaker. And including as well the vision and creativity of the designers, combined with the knowledge and artisanal crafts techniques that fall within the experimentation process of CIAV Meisenthal.
 
CONTACTS
Pro Materia (project leader)
Rue Notre-Dame-du-Sommeil, 2, B- 1000 Brussels, Belgium
www.promateria.be +32 (0)2 768 25 10
Curator & project manager: Lise Coirier
lise@promateria.be +32 (0)475 531 988
Project coordinator: Winnie Kwok
winglam@promateria.be +32 (0)476 234 757
CIAV - Centre International d’art verrier (co-organiser)
Glassmaking site / place robert schuman
F-57960 Meisenthal,France
www.ciav-meisenthal.fr + 33 (0)3-87 96 87 16
Director of CIAV Meisenthal: Yann Grienenberger
ciav@wanadoo.fr
 
Glass is Tomorrow II is curated by Pro Materia (BE), supported by organizing partners : the Glass Factory (SE), the RCA – Royal College of Art (UK), Domaine de Boisbuchet (FR), Cité du Design (FR), ESADSE – École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Etienne (FR), CIAV – Centre International d’Art Verrier (FR) and Vessel Gallery (UK). The project enjoys the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union and of its associated partners Saint-Just (FR), Konstfack University (SE), Riksglasskolan (SE) and Örsjö Belysning (SE)
 
Centre International d’art verrier
Place Robert Schuman
F-57960 Meisenthal
+ 33 (0)3-87968716
ciav@wanadoo.fr
http://www.ciav-meisenthal.fr