Year of creation

2025

About project

A unique collectible series of vases decorated with hot-glass modeled animals.

Each piece is unique, hand blown into a wooden mold. The glass animals are hands modeled by glass master Martin Štefánek and hand-painted by glass designer and painter Frantisek Jungvirt.

The vase-objects are a demonstration high level of craftsmanship.

The fragility of nature

In the current Feather Animals collection, I was inspired by endangered bird species found in the Czech Republic. Birds such as the thick-billed wagtail, the goldfinch, the blue tit and other species are perched on the surface of the vases. The vases themselves are based on my significant Garden collection. For Feather Animals, I chose a cracked surface for the vases with subtle color transitions evoking the individual seasons. The fine network of cracks even more strongly thematizes the fragility and vulnerability of the natural environment.

The hand-modeled figurines, which are a faithful imitation of living creatures down to the last detail, were created by glass master Martin Štefánek from Desná, Czech Republic. I then paint the individual bird figurines by hand, which required the development of new colors for this painting and their subsequent fixation at the high temperatures of glass melting in a glass furnace – i.e. without firing in a glass furnace, as is usually done.

“At the glass school in Třeboň, Czech Republic, I learned to work with common lead paints, which we fired in a glass furnace. However, the technique that allowed us to decorate the glass when it was cold has its limitations. The glass cannot be reheated and glued tightly, as the paint would turn black and bubble. Since the Animals collections are mainly about realistic depiction and natural placement of the creature or natural motif on the shape, we had to adapt the production process. Martin Štefánek and I therefore came up with our own process and colors as part of our experiments. We are following in the footsteps of the techniques of the brothers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, who created glass models of plants and animals, but did not have time to pass on their know-how,” František Jungvirt.

Each vase is unique, hand signed, certified and numbered.

Skydrift exhibition with painter Jiří Bartoš in the gallery in the courtyard of Prague’s Clam-Gallas Palace as part of Czech Design Week.

Exhibition open 12.9.-1.10. TUE-SUN 10 am-6 pm.

More information at frantisekjungvirt@gmail.com .

Photos by Anna Pleslova.

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