GLASS SHIPS IN BOTTLES, 11 SEPTEMBER TO 9 JANUARY 2022

A collection of 150 vintage glass ships in bottles and new glass artworks go on show at the Scottish Maritime Museum on Irvine Harbourside, Ayrshire. The exhibition has been curated by Dr Ayako Tani, a glass artist and researcher specialising in the industrial and cultural history of glassmaking at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.

Glass Ships tells a remarkable story of ingenuity. Faced with redundancy following the decline of heavy industry in the 1970s, highly-skilled scientific glassblowers in England combined their experience making laboratory apparatus in an open flame with artistic flair to create and sell glass ships in bottles.

The modern skill of scientific glassblowing, which is sometimes referred to as lampworking, began with the invention of robust Borosilicate glass in the 1880s. Today, there are less than 100 scientific glassblowers left in the UK and the skill is recognised as ‘endangered’ by the Heritage Crafts Association.

The Linthouse, Harbourside, Irvine KA12 8BT; tel: 01294 278283; website: www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org