LOCAL HERO
The master Melbourne glassblower believes that good lighting is an essential mood-making design inclusion that must not be overlooked.
I was born in Ballarat in 1964. Dad was a tiler – I learnt trade practices from him and, most importantly, how to deal with clients. Making jewellery and ceramics with my mother is also one of my most special childhood memories.
I studied ceramic design during the early ’80s at Chisholm Institute of
Technology [now Monash
University]. At that time ceramics was huge and there was a handmade decorative arts revolution happening. After uni I started working with hot glass – maybe since my surname is Douglass it was my destiny!
I actually have a love/hate relationship with glass. It has the most pure colour clarity and lasts forever, but it is also fragile and sharp. It’s a material that requires a lot of respect and patience. When molten it’s soft and very predictable to work with if you understand it. It can also be as cold as ice and cut you. It is also one of the most expensive materials to work with. The gas bills, electricity costs, equipment setup and maintenance on top of employing skilled glassblowers…
I always find it hard when my best pieces break or get lost. Overcoming the sense of loss is difficult, but producing a new work goes some way to easing the grief. Melbourne Glassworks, my home base, is the biggest privately owed hot-glass studio in the Southern Hemisphere. We often make between 50 and 120 lights a week depending on the size. We use both electric and gas furnaces.
Most of our shapes are handformed but we use moulds for certain projects when accuracy and precise repetition is required. We plan to relocate our showroom from Richmond so the public can see the making process as they purchase lights. It creates that extra level of connection that I think is essential for a business like mine. I was recently part of the NGV Women’s Association Art of Dining: Best of the Best 2019 exhibition (ngv.vic.gov.au). I created a tabletop installation made from intricate brass scaffolding and glass balls filled with tiny jewels. @mdouglassdesign or markdouglassdesign.com # Examples of Mark’s Modernist range of lighting.