Interview

Questions for @claregaylardglass Describe your practice in one sentence: Exploring form and narrative through the contradictory process of turning flamework glass into wearable art!

How did you come to your primary medium? Via a degree in Silversmithing & Jewellery then teaching art. Twenty years ago I found a remaindered book called ‘Making Glass Beads’. I’d always been fascinated by glass but had never thought of the medium as being within my reach. I was immediately obsessed.

Why do you create? I’m driven to, it’s my way of making sense of the world, processing and reflecting back experience and inspiration.

How is storytelling and narrative significant in/to your work? As a storyteller, I explore the role that jewellery plays as a wearable archive of experience, and the emotional resonance of adornment. I think of my work as stories in glass, the ensoulment of small objects.

What inspires you? Historical artefacts, stories, poetry and places. The traditions and theatre of costume and adornment. Nature, the seasons and my rural, environment (Suffolk) after living in cities in Asia and Africa for a decade.

Who inspires you? Other world builders and story tellers, in terms of wearable art: Alexander MacQueen. In terms of #glass as a response to the wonders of the natural world, the Blaschkas, father and son creators.

Find a selection of Clare’s work in our #flashsale beginning Weds 29th October, swipe for details.