The Breathtaking Scientific Glass Art of Bernd Weinmayer
Austrian glass artist Bernd Weinmayer’s scientific glass (especially his plasma glass works) is known for its masterfull blend of rational and delicate artistic expression; various biological forms are vividly displayed to his viewers. His works provoke introspection about life and the desire to better understand nature. The crystal clear and flawless works of art demonstrate his pursuit of perfection which has set a high bar in this field. He has won many international awards, including the New Glass Review 28 Jury Award in Corning, New York, USA in 2007; Zwiesel, Germany in 2010; Gletscherprise Glaskunstpreis Award; High Times Cannabis Cup Award, Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012; in 2006 and 2013 his work was selected for the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass in Germany.
Recently, his glass dress resulted from a collaboration with the internationally renowned fashion designer Iris Van Herpen; it challenged what’s possible and brought the art of scientific glass to a climax.
We are honored to be able to interview Bernd and learn how this contemporary glass artist has risen to the challenge to become a highly respected artist of our time.
Q: You are a very successful glass artist. Please tell us about your career and education that paved the way for you to become such an outstanding artist.
A: Luck, luck, and again luck. I graduated from a commercial school in Bad Aibling, Bavaria, Germany. After graduating from school, I was actually only sure that I didn’t want to learn a business profession. At the age of 17, I was complete without a plan, without self-confidence, and could not imagine a future. Our family had a vacation home in Mariastein/Tyrol/Austria. It is the most beautiful place on earth – a quiet place of pilgrimage surrounded by mountains and intact nature. Not far from this paradise is the only glass school in Austria. For lack of alternatives, my mother convinced me to attend it. By chance, I ended up in the scientific glassblowing department. I appreciated the relaxed atmosphere between teacher and student, but my true passion until the age of 20 was mountain running. Every free minute I was somewhere in the mountains on the way, mostly alone, sometimes with training partners. On the weekends we would go to competitions. In the glass school, I would describe myself today as, until then, an average student. When I had completed the third of four school years, one of my training buddies got injured and I wanted to give him a special present. I made for him a small running figure out of glass, which surprisingly showed nice proportions on the first try. After that, I made several more solid glass figures. My teachers were surprised by the quality of this first creative glass work. At that time I was stagnating in sports and so my ambition spilled over into glass art. In the same year, 1991, I set up a small glassblowing workshop in Mariastein; parallel to my school education I spent most of the night hours in my little “flame hell“. From that time on I was infected by the “flameworking virus”, which accompanies me to the present. After the 4-year glass school, I attended a 2-year advanced course for design and arts and crafts. After that, I immediately started my own business and increased my business success year by year – starting from an extremely low level.
Q: You are a pioneer in the world of scientific glassblowing and specialize in plasma glass. Please tell us more about this field and how plasma glass art stands out as an art medium.
A: Scientific glassblowing is the only way to learn this profession in a school setting. It is an absolutely technical profession that requires accuracy and precision. It is often boring, but a perfect craft foundation. Creative glass art is my passion – scientific glass blowing is my bread and butter. This has not changed until today. I love this magical, transparent “super-cooled liquid” – that’s how glass is referred to in professional circles. I love these flawless, flowing forms. Colored glass is almost never used in my work because it interrupts the transparency and thus dematerializes the medium, for my taste. Transparent glass in combination with light is for me the pinnacle of elegance. By chance, I met plasma expert Ed Kirshner at a GlassArtSociety meeting in Seattle in 2002. Ed made it possible for me to experiment with moving gaslight phenomena. To this day, it is almost unbelievable to me to be able to admire an absolutely transparent hollow glass body in daylight, which then glows elegantly and unobtrusively during the night hours thanks to an ionized inert gas filling. Each piece is unique. With only a few noble gases, almost the entire spectrum of colored light can be reproduced. The gases are melted into a hollow glass body and are thus preserved for eternity. Simply fascinating! And by the way, you suddenly have the feeling that you are part of an exclusive club of about ten companies worldwide that deal professionally with this combination of glass and plasma light. Suddenly the world becomes small and manageable and you realize that you have finally found your place and your purpose in life.
Q: What are the recurring themes in your glass art and why?
A: I am fascinated by the complex relationships that are ubiquitous in nature. Nature is beautiful and often very brutal at the same time. Life and death – both directly connected and thus an endless cycle; often combined with surreal fantasies that swirl around in my head; the combination of human/machine and biomechanics has haunted me since my glass school days.
Q: Your recent collaboration with the world-famous fashion designer Iris Van Herpen is absolutely stunning. Please tell us more about this work and what difficulties you had to overcome in the process.
A: Again, such an incredible stroke of luck. Three years ago, my former workshop teacher contacted me to ask if I could make an almost two meter tall glass face for the haute couture fashion designer Iris van Herpen, who was unknown to me until then. I was immediately captivated by her otherworldly design power. I did the face order and got direct contact with this incredible personality. Then, three years ago, when the coronavirus wave hit and clients were hesitant to place orders with me as well, I recognized a unique opportunity to lose myself in an experimental project, completely removed from time and space, similar to my early years. I contacted Iris and asked if I could produce her world famous “Bone Dress” in glass. She was excited about the idea, but it was to be a complete redesign of a dress that did not yet exist. Iris inquired about my crafting skills and after a few Skype phone calls and a few glass samples, Iris sent me a design that moved me to tears. A consistent Iris van Herpen design continuation, with her signature organic structural elements that actually seemed feasible to me at first glance. However, it was also immediately clear to me that this work would push me to unprecedented limits of feasibility. Only briefly explained to me, so that a layman can understand, I saw how unimaginable the task stood before me – a super exclusive dress made of glass, which could actually be worn by a model on the catwalk and which should also be equipped with plasma light technology (by the way, this extra function has not been presented yet). I was given a scaled paper model, which represents the three-dimensional structure two-dimensionally. The structure is formed partly from hollow glass and partly from solid glass. The cross-section of the structure is profile-like and almost never round. Despite this unique organic shape, mirror symmetry is apparent. To freely draw, bend, press, blow, suck this into glass in thousands of individual parts without the use of molding tools has challenged me the most in my more than 30 years of professional experience. My very special ability is my great, three-dimensional imagination. The implementation feels almost intuitive with countless repeated steps. One gets tunnel vision and is 100% project-focused. Thanks to my very tolerant family and this very special Coronavirus time, after more than six months of work, this mega project could actually be put into action.
Q: As a keen observer and futurist, what do you see in your art for the future? What role will it play and what goals will it achieve?
A: I don’t know – I’m quite flexible about that and every day I’m looking for a new challenge. But yes – even if it may sound stupid – many of my professional milestones I sometimes imagined exactly like this decades ago. But this inner intuition and this unshakable confidence in one’s own abilities also had to grow over the years. As a 15-year-old, I couldn’t imagine that I would ever pass the age of 30. So to speak, I’ve been living in the encore for a long time now and I’m basically a career optimist.
Q: Please give some of your advice to aspiring young glass artists.
A: Are you an introvert, a loner like me, and live in a fantasy world? That’s a perfect basic requirement for this super exciting profession. In my case, this is compounded by a social phobia and numerous other weaknesses. That’s why I never wanted to become a public artist. My dream has always been to be allowed to produce exclusively for artists or companies under my name and this is exactly the role I have found. So there is not one recipe for success, but countless niches that allow for a satisfying life. A glassblower will improve his craftsmanship day by day. In what other profession do you look forward to getting older? If you have the feeling that you have mastered a certain technique particularly well, then try to improve it permanently by practicing countless times. Money is eaten up by inflation in times like these. Unique glass pieces guarantee the stability of value and will survive our short lives perhaps for many centuries.
Thank you very much for letting us interview you. It was an honor.
Thank you for your interest in my glass work. It was fun and I feel honored to be able to give insight into my little glassblowing world. Kind regards from Mariastein – Bernd
We would like to thank Bernd for speaking with us. Through his words, we get to know how an accomplished artist like him has strived to where he is today. We look forward to seeing more of his wonderful artistic creations.
Bernd’s Website