Commissioning An Artist Is The Real Gift

There is something beautiful about working with an artist in creating a treasure.

Mark Raynes Roberts

As some of you know, during the pandemic of 2020, I began an online exhibition of artists’ work called “Creation In Isolation”, and it was during this time that I came across the glassworks of British husband and wife team, Louise and Colin Hawkins.

What appealed to my eye were the flowing repetitive designs Louise created on the vessels blown or formed by Colin. The designs were not hand-engraved but rather sandblasted through layered colored glass creating a cameo effect, an homage of sorts to two of the leading designers of the 20th century, William Morris and Rene Lalique.

Louise and Colin Hawkins contemporary glass designs, created at their Cirencester glass studio, are a nod to the great French glass maker Rene Lalique.

The other reason I had brought their glass designs to Sarah’s attention was the fact their studio was located in the market town of Cirencester, around the corner from where I was supposed to have started my own career after training at the Birmingham School of Jewelry. In my case, I’d been offered a position at Stradlings Goldsmiths, (now the location of the Cotswolds Contemporary Art Gallery) in the Spring of 1982, which had evaporated by the summer due to the bad economy. By that Fall, I was off to Canada to seek my future creative life abroad.