‘Glass is extraordinarily seductive. Every piece is an adventure and you never know exactly what you have created until you open the kiln and see how a piece has turned out. I love that moment of surprise.’
Peter Layton is known for his bold use of colour and combined use of techniques, including free-blowing, casting and cold work, to realise his organic forms and sculptural larger works. Layton has been at the forefront of promoting glassblowing as an art for decades and continues to push the boundaries of the material through his intimate understanding of the raw material and the techniques used for working it.
Peter Layton has been at the forefront of promoting glassblowing as an art for decades. In 1969 he helped Sam Herman build the first furnace at the Glasshouse in Covent Garden. He subsequently established his own small glass studio at Morar in the Highlands of Scotland, a Glass Department at Hornsey College of Art (Middlesex University) and, in 1976, the London Glassblowing Workshop in an old towage works on the Thames at Rotherhithe. In 2009 the London Glassblowing Studio and Gallery moved to much larger premises in Bermondsey.
Some glassmakers create technically brilliant pieces and follow a precise pattern, others prefer to create more abstract works of art that are looser and evolve during the creative process. Layton’s work falls firmly into the latter category and he is known for his strong use of colour, the use of organic forms and the sculptural quality of his larger pieces. He is inspired by whatever is around him. For example, heavy snow turned his long commute by train into an intriguing black and white world in which texture was particularly important – all factors that shaped the ‘Glacier’ range. He regularly creates conceptual pieces which reflect his specific concerns over issues such as ecology and religion.
