Ida Wieth

Glass fuser

©Dorte Krogh

Giving glass a sense of mystery

Ida works with sculptural glass, pushing the boundaries of traditional glassblowing
Her inspirations include Japanese arts and crafts
In 2021 she was awarded the Deep Forest Art Land Prize, at Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in Copenhagen

Ida Wieth discovered glasswork as a child and took her first glass course in Denmark at 18. She went on to study glassblowing at the Kosta Glass School in Sweden, followed by a master’s degree at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. “When I first ‘touched’ glass, it was so incredibly difficult but also captivating, and I decided to pursue it further,” she says. Ida now works with glass and ceramics, and occasionally wood, concrete and metals, combining an artistic approach with artisanal knowledge of materials and techniques to create highly expressive and emotional works. For her, creations can be considered well made when feelings, expression and materials come together and trigger a certain sense of mystery.

Interview

©Kaare Viemose

©Dorte Krogh

How would you describe what you do?: I work with an investigative and curious approach to materials and artistic expression. I mainly work with mouth blown glass that I combine with other materials. Over the years I have moved towards creating installations and larger scale projects.
How did you come to start working with glass?: At a young age, I came across glassblowing factories in Sweden and Murano, Italy. I was trained by several skilled glassblowing masters who had worked in glass factories. During my studies in Edinburgh, I started working with a research and art based approach, where I combined blown glass with cast concrete. Since then, I have worked in a sculptural and artistic direction, with a significant connection to the craft.
What was the first piece of work you made?: The very first blown glass object I made was probably a small, very thick and crooked looking glass bowl. After three years of training in advanced techniques in Sweden, I made a series of black and white twisted incalmo vessels for my final project.
How do tradition and innovation come together in your work?: The first thing I might do is blow and pull glass canes, an Italian traditional way of adding pattern and stripes to things like glass vessels. I then add metal oxides to my canes and later re-melt and bend them into an object. In this way I use traditional techniques while challenging them to find new possibilities.

Ida Wieth is a master artisan: she began her career in 2002 and she started teaching in 2013