This bowl is a fantastic example of work by Klaus Moje, a master designer known to “paint with glass.” To design this object, Moje used kiln-formed fused twisted canes (glass that has been stretched into thin rods or strips) of semi-opaque red-orange glass with deep transparent blues. Next, the strips were heat laminated together to create a pattern of blue parallelograms arranged perpendicular across the red ground. Then, he wheel-cut and shaped the glass as an octagonal bowl with a broad flat rim. The result transforms an everyday object like a bowl into something brilliant to behold!
A major force in the international studio glass movement, Klaus Moje has pushed the expressive and technical possibilities of glass for more than five decades. Born in Germany, Moje first began his life-long exploration of the material in the early 1950’s as a glass cutter and grinder at the Moje family workshop in Hamburg. During the 1960’s and 1970’s Moje explored the expressive potential of glass as an art form in its own right and began exhibiting internationally. A year after designing this bowl, made in 1981, Moje immigrated to Australia to become the founding Head of the Glass Workshop at the Canberra School of Art.
Over the years, Moje has continually pushed the boundaries of studio glassmaking and conducted innumerable workshops throughout the world. Moje’s pieces have been in more than fifty international collections including Cooper-Hewitt and he has been the receipt of many significant awards in Australia, Europe and United States.