Pâte de verre is a kiln-casting process in which colored powdered glass is packed into a plaster mold, then fired at a high temperature. The result is a relatively thick, somewhat opaque object. This complex method of glassworking is shown in great detail in the earlier video Master Class Series IV: Pâte de Verre with Shin-ichi and Kimiake Higuchi • Pâte de Verre with Shi...
Here, Shin-ichi Higuchi shows us something similar, yet very different indeed. After years of research and experimentation, he shares with us his rediscovery of a late 19th-/early 20th-century pâte de verre process for making eggshell thin, translucent vessels. Deeply inspired (and challenged) by the work of French Art Nouveau artists François-Emile Decorchemont and Albert Dammouse, Higuchi reveals his creative voice in a very challenging medium.
Filmed at the Higuchis' studio in Japan, Shin-ichi Higuchi methodically leads us through this painstaking, but beautiful process which invites exploration by other contemporary artists.
Produced from 1998 to 2014, each video in The Studio’s Master Class Series presents a portrait of an artist and teaches a glassworking technique. Until now, these 30-minute videos have only been available on DVD.