A touch of glass

The words “Flanders” and “glass” don’t usually sit comfortably together. Our neighbours have a much stronger glass heritage: think of the Val Saint Lambert glass factory in Wallonia or the major European glass museums in Leerdam, the Netherlands; Frauenau, Germany; and Sars-Poteries, France.

But now Flanders is firmly on the glass map, thanks to the Flemish Centre for Contemporary Glass Art, otherwise known as The Glass House, on Lommel, Limburg province.

The Glass House brings a number of activities together under one roof. (And what a roof! But more of that later.) Its main goal is to attract and encourage contemporary glass artists and designers. Workshops provide “all the glass-making facilities a budding artist might need, readily available,” says Jeroen Maes, the centre’s coordinator. “They can create their glassworks on the spot – then take them home or leave them on display.” Soon they will be able to put them up for sale in the Regional Tourist Visitors Centre, which opens this year next to the Glass House.

If you don’t see yourself as a glass artist, there is still much at The Glass House to keep you occupied. Displays and short films explain the process of glassmaking, right from the moment the quartz sand is extracted from the sand pits outside Lommel, through to the art of glass blowing. You can peer through the windows of the workshops to watch glassblowers and other glass artists at work. “There is even the possibility to have a go yourself,” adds Maes. (After a course and under close supervision.)

The Glass House is also an exhibition centre, and since 1995 the town of Lommel has been building up its own glass collection. Created by national and international artists, the impressive collection of 36 pieces is now on display. The Glass House also organises three special exhibitions per year, which illustrate different aspects of glass – whether exploratory, artistic, technical, conceptual or thematic. Flemish artists and companies alternate with their internationally renowned colleagues.

The first exhibition of 2009 focuses on the work of De Rupel glassworks from Boom, near Antwerp. The company started production in 1925 and soon became well-known for its range of hand-blown black vases, hand-painted with floral motifs. (More familiar may be their distinctive and iconic Duvel beer glass.)

Sand from Lommel and Mol was transported by barge via the River Rupel to the glass factory in Boom. The company employed 400 people at its peak in 1960. But as the decade wore on, the competition from machine-blown glass gradually ground down De Rupel’s commitment to handmade work. Finally, the bubble burst and the company closed its doors in 1972.

The exhibition contains about 400 items of De Rupel’s glass from various private collections, along with original designs, drawings and documentation.

The Glass House building is a work of art in itself. Designed by Brussels architect Philippe Samyn, its centrepiece is an eye-catching 30-metre-high glass and stainless steel cone. It’s visible from all directions and dominates the town – particularly at night, thanks to an array of electro-luminescent diodes. Still, despite its imposing nature, it manages to look quite fragile, as if it might blow away in a sudden gale. It won’t, of course, as it’s composed of a totally rigid system of triangular frames made of hollow steel tubes. Inside the cone, two identical steel staircases are suspended from the structure and spiral upwards. Ascending the stairs, visitors pass three exhibition areas, while cleverly placed mirrors enable you to view the entire external structure of the cone.
The Glass House is also a green house. The heat of the furnace is recuperated to heat the building, while the rain water falling on the roof is collected and used to cool the glass.

Dorp 14b, Lommel; Booms Glass is on display until 26 April

online
www.hetglazenhuis.be