Master of glass: new exhibition showcases the best of Peter Layton's 'painterly' bold and colourful glasswork

Peter Layton of London Glassblowing records a lifetime of achievements in a stunning new exhibition of his work.
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Nicole Swengley12 October 2019

It is a remarkable achievement to have run a successful glassblowing studio and gallery for more than 40 years. But Peter Layton is a remarkable man, fired up by his craft and showing no signs of slowing down.

The renowned glass artist is in his element flitting between blisteringly hot furnaces at the rear of London Glassblowing’s Southwark base — where resident artists are shaping glowing blobs of molten glass on long “irons” — and the front-of-shop gallery where assistants are setting up an exhibition of stunning glass vessels and sculptures to mark the studio’s 10 years in Bermondsey Street.

Layton looks like a seasoned choreographer directing an intricate, highly engaging theatrical performance. His energy and enthusiasm are impressive for an octogenarian who is still running a thriving studio and gallery created in the Seventies.

Originally a potter, having studied ceramics at Central School of Art & Design, graduating in 1965, Layton initially experimented with hot glasswork while teaching ceramics in the US and felt an instant rapport with the medium.

“I soon found that I truly loved the immediacy of the material and especially the speed and spontaneity of decision making that it demanded,” he says. “It has a momentum and creates forces of its own — I wanted to tap into that.”

At that time the studio glass movement, in which glass is used as a means of artistic expression rather than a functional, mass-market product, was rapidly taking off in the US but virtually unknown in Britain.

Layton’s decision to swap clay for glass on his return to the UK was a leap in the dark. “When I started London Glassblowing in 1976 there was no market in the UK for studio glass,” he says. “Clay was the thing, followed by jewellery.”

Undaunted, he set up a hot glass studio in Rotherhithe, working with glass-making assistant, Victor Ramsay, and was soon joined by other artists.

Taking a collaborative approach whereby resident artists could help Layton produce his own designs yet also create their own work made economic sense for such an expensive and challenging occupation.

Purple Woven Basket, £4,500, by Layne Rowe at London Glassblowing
Ester Segarra www.e-segarra.com

For Layton, it goes deeper. Working in a collaborative environment in which artists learn from each other while handing knowledge on to the next generation is key to his whole ethos.

By 1995 when the company moved to London Bridge there was sufficient demand from collectors and homeowners for Layton to open a gallery alongside his studio.

A rent rise in 2009 forced a further move to the studio’s current location where decorative work of the highest quality is created daily.

Since Layton’s tentative experiments in the Sixties, the technical possibilities have developed continuously, allowing dynamic expression of form, shape and colour.

Layton frequently refers to his own work as “painterly” and this analogy is often employed through specific references to artworks by David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin and Van Gogh.

His way of working, with colours topping the glass and sitting within its surface, achieves a depth of palette while expressive swirls echo the effect of brushstrokes.

Ask Layton where he finds inspiration and he replies: “Dry-stone walls, standing stones, mountains, clouds, travel, things found on the beach — and latterly, paintings have worked for me.”

Surely artists working in other disciplines might also choose these creative springboards, so why translate them into glass? “It’s simply the most magical of mediums,” he says.

Which is why, even in his eighties, Layton continues to experiment with new ideas and nurture the next generation of talent. “I’m still really excited by the potential of the medium,” he says, enthusiastically.

  • Celebrating Glass: Ten Years on Bermondsey Street runs until October 12 at 62-66 Bermondsey Street, SE1 (020 7403 2800; londonglassblowing.co.uk).
  • A Celebration of Colour: Peter Layton and London Glassblowing costs £28 via phone or website. Visitors are welcome anytime at his factory and shop.