Julia Linstead

Julia will be located in Venue 14 - Alewood

Julia’s lead crystal bowls are hand blown to her specification and she draws and applies a unique stencil to each piece then sandblasts the pattern into the surface of the glass.

I design and engrave glassware because I love the quality of light through colour and because I want to produce accessible and decorative work that people enjoy seeing and owning.

The patterns I develop are always drawn directly from nature. I like to follow the flow of the handmade glass and feel naturalistic images compliment this rather than fighting against it. My inspiration can be drawn from a microscopic form to the cosmos, but I do have a very strong attraction to anything aquatic.

My lead crystal bowls are hand blown to my specification and I draw and apply a unique stencil to each piece through which I can sandblast the pattern into the surface of the glass.

I have two strands of work, repeatable bowls and one-off forms. The repeatable bowls are blown with one or two thin layers of colour on the inside surface of the bowl. The patterns I etch are generally simplified or stylised motifs on one theme such as dragonflies or fish. With my one-off pieces, the form of the piece is important and is integral to the design. I indulge in a greater degree of detail and recently have been exploring natural forms with an abstract nature. I incorporate swathes of colour within the glass, cut edges and use the thickness of the crystal to distort and manipulate the pattern and light through the work.

You can find out more about Julia Linstead on her website, instagram and facebook.