As an everyday item, glass is used for many things. To some, it is a bottle holding their soft drink, beer or wine; to others, it is fish tanks and windows. But for glass artists, it is their means of expression.
Although this exotic art form may be a new concept to some, glassmaking has a mesmerising and bountiful history. The origins of glassmaking can be traced back to 2500BC. The Romans dabbled in this art, creating beautiful glass decor and by 1500BC glass was being shaped into beads and vessels in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Around 30BC, the blowpipe was invented to help the glassblower in shaping the soft glass to its final figure; in order for that to happen, the temperature needs to be around 700-1000 degrees Centigrade.
Joy Huang's first love was pottery. But she came across glassmaking at an art college in Wanganui, New Zealand, when she saw students blowing glass in a workshop. That's when she pledged her love to glassblowing.
Attracted by the 'beautiful material', she quit her personal pottery studio in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to learn glass art in Britain. Over the years, her influences have come from the different artists and cultures she has met on her journeys to glass studios in countries such as Norway, Thailand, New Zealand, Germany and Japan.
She was awarded the Colin Gill Memorial Award for the best technique. Having established the Glassblower in Residence Project in Tittot Museum, in Taipei, Taiwan, she then set up her very own Joy Huang Studio Glass.