Crafting with heat and colour
- Oscar fell in love with glassblowing when watching his father at work
- He feels patience and persistence are essential to the craft
- He works in small series, exhausting a specific idea or theme
“A finished piece must cool slowly over 24 hours, degree by degree. If it cools too quickly, the heart of the object can break into thousands of pieces.” When discussing his craft and the techniques involved, Oscar Simonin’s voice reflects his love for glassblowing. He describes his workshop’s two furnaces, the molten glass, the way he must roll the cooling glass and shape it with his various tools. “I fell in love with this work as a young child and I can’t think of anything else I would want to do,” he says. He did his degree at a specialist glass arts school in France before completing several apprenticeships to master his craft. Very inspired by nature, he innovates within thematically based series.
Interview
- Why did you choose this profession?
- My father is also a glassblower and I loved the work right from the beginning. I love working with the heat, with the colours. I wanted to try when I was little, and I started making small objects when I could, during holidays and in the summer.
- What do you enjoy the most?
- Truly, I love it all. I love working in front of the furnace, working with the molten glass, with the different colours. I really enjoy working on large-scale pieces, perfecting my mastery of the glass in its molten form. It’s my absolute passion.
- Can you describe one of your first successes?
- For the Meilleurs Apprentis de France contest, I designed and created a perfume bottle. It took about a month, and many attempts to get it right. The final design didn’t just involve blowing the glass but reworking it to smooth and polish the piece.
- What inspires you?
- I’m very inspired by the natural world. Not just what we see at first glance but more at the microscopic level, the shapes that can be found up close. I love the curves and geometry visible in nature. My collection Structure reflects this fascination.
Oscar Simonin is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2009
Where
Oscar Simonin
