PAST & PRESENT -Peter Layton and London Glassblowing

This book is a celebration of glass art as seen through the life and work of Peter Layton and his studio – one of the longest running in Europe. It includes an essay by Scott Benefield on the history of this exciting ‘new’ medium, and Andy McConnell who writes about the current state of glassmaking and its future viability. Set up in 1976 by Peter Layton, London Glassblowing Studio and Gallery has become one of Europe’s leading creative hubs for glassmaking.

Peter Layton's pioneering vision to establish a workshop that would take risks and experiment with glass in an organic fashion has breathed life and energy into a material previously confined to industrial usage. In 2009 London Glassblowing moved to its present superb location on Bermondsey Street. Here it has grown in strength, its welcoming gallery recognized as a leader in its field. The key figure in the long standing success of this studio is Peter Layton, whose mission remains to produce work of the highest quality while promoting glass as an exciting medium for individual artistic expression. Glass offers a vast range of creative possibilities; endlessly intriguing and captivating; a timeless record of frozen light, colour and form as shown in this superbly illustrated volume.

This very well written book is really a celebration of glass art! It includes an essay by Scott Benefield on the history of this exciting 'new' medium and Andy McConnell writes about the current state of the glassmaker and future viability as the London Glassblowing Studio was set up in 1976 by Peter Layton and has become a leading creative centre for glassmaking. In 2009 London Glassblowing moved to Bermondsey Street, where there was room for special highlight on the Gallery. Besides the preface by McWhirter, one chapter is the text Peter Layton and the Art of Survival by Dan Klein that previously appeared in the book Peter Layton & Friends. It was recorded by Katherine Coleman MBE to pay respect to Dan Klein (1938-2009) with a postscript. Benefield describes the history of the Studio Glass and Caroline Swash wrote Peter Layton – In Retrospective. In Chapter 5, the story of the early life of Layton is followed by portraits of artists who worked with him, each with two pages with text and beautiful photos of glass works.
This book demonstrates with how much fun and craftsmanship Layton put into his work and still does.
Highly recommended as a particularly fine document!

Hardback, 258x238mm, 144 pages, 100 colour paintings
London Glassblowing
62-66 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3UD
+44 (0) 20 7403 2800
+44 (0) 20 7403 7778
www.londonglassblowing.co.uk
info@londonglassblowing.co.uk