The most common inspiration for Ned’s designs is nature and animals as reflections of human society. This black crow on a granite base was hand blown and sculpted during the malleable working stage, before the cooling of the piece.
Height 20 cm
“My fascination with pop culture comes from an early encounter, visiting a Pop Art exhibition around the age of 11, which led me to become an artist.” A glass artist, to be precise. Ned Cantrell was born in England, but after falling in love with fellow artist Karen Nyholm on the island of Bornholm, he now lives and works in Denmark. He trained at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Farnham, UK, where he “made experiments with putting pieces of broken glass into clay vessels, which led to investigations in melting glass in the kiln and eventually to blowing glass,” before learning with several European masters. These days, he combines tradition and modern ideas, high culture and popular taste, to create objects that catch people off guard.
Read the full interviewPhoto: © Ned Cantrell
The most common inspiration for Ned’s designs is nature and animals as reflections of human society. This black crow on a granite base was hand blown and sculpted during the malleable working stage, before the cooling of the piece.
Height 20 cm
Photo: © All rights reserved
In recent years, Ned’s work has focused on silvering, a chemical process of coating glass with a reflective substance, and on representations of animals and their exploitation by humans. This hand blown tiger is an example of his ongoing investigation into this matter as well as the complicated nature of the glassmaking process.
Height 35 cm
Photo: © All rights reserved
With this hand blown pink glass pig, Ned draws a parallel between the objectification of women and the exploitation of animals in the meat industry. In both cases, natural bodies are treated as commodities and subjected to unnatural standards.
Height 30 cm
Photo: © Ned Cantrell
One of the main inspirations for Ned’s work is animals and how they interact with human societies. Kept in small pools for human entertainment, orcas often suffer from dorsal fin collapse as a result of their entrapment. This hand blown heavy glass sculpture is an example of Ned's ongoing investigation into this matter as well as the complicated nature of the glassmaking process.
Height 60 cm
Photo: © Ned Cantrell
One of the main inspirations for Ned’s work is animals and how they interact with human societies. By placing a tiger cub on a diamond, Ned draws a parallel between these two rare and precious figures, both symbols of power and exploitation.
Height 40 cm