Core77

Somewhere between the aesthetic of Art Deco motifs and a Cylon prop from Battlestar Galactica, glass artist Heather Gillespie's pieces made a splash at Tent London this year.

The designer maker in love with the art of copper wheel engraving during the year that she spent at the Glass College in Kamenicky Senov in the Czech Republic.

As the work is blown, it changes shape and structure and once it starts to cool, it becomes fixed as if it were trapped in time. The piece is then transferred to a kiln called a "lehr". After twelve hours of cooling, the piece is ready to handle.

After studying the piece, Gillespie assesses the best way to cut and polish it. Normally progressing from a fine to coarse belt on a machine called a "linisher", she begins to cut the glass quickly and vigorously, polishing it straight after. Then marking out her design onto the glass, Gillespie readies it for intaglio engraving.

Now if she can just embed some FTL jump discs inside them, we might solve the world's gasoline crisis.

View all London Design Festival 2008 coverage in one place