„Pulled and Bent" – Piotr Stramski

Glass is fragile. It cracks. It breaks. Is that its flaw or its nature? Striving for perfection in glass processing we do not notice the beauty hidden in the imperfections of this material – its uniqueness and authenticity.
When creating glass patterns, I always wanted to show the OTHER glass. The designed and blown glass forms were for me only a semi-finished product – an initial material for my projects.
While cutting the glass form, I was getting to know its interior and its delicate structure. By cutting off and then sanding, I often came dangerously close to the limit of the glass’s strength. The thin walls of vessels with pressure and the vibration of the saw cracked every now and then, and pieces of glass chipped off and scattered in the air.
Glass breaks. Are you sure it’s its fault? Why are we so afraid of sharp edges? Can we emphasise the beauty of glass through a thoughtful process of destruction?
This collection is a record of my experiments with glass. Cutting, breaking and grinding I tried to obtain forms asymmetrical in shape. Completely new and different: STRAINED AND TWISTED.

Piotr Stramski

PIOTR STRAMSKI
Graduated with honours from the Faculty of Ceramics and Glass at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (currently, the E. Geppert Academy of Art and Design), Poland, 2006 – he completed his diploma under the direction of Prof. Małgorzata Dajewska and Prof. Zbigniew Horbowy. In 2019, he received his doctorate at the same department.
He has received several design prizes and grants, such as Young Poland, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship, Poland, 2007.
He worked as a designer in the Makora glassworks, Krosno, Poland, 2006–2007. Since 2009, he has been employed as a teacher in the Institute of Industrial Design, Koszalin University of Technology, Koszalin, Poland. A Visiting Professor at the Glass Department, the Faculty of Fine Arts, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey, 2008.
He has participated in 4 individual exhibitions in the Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine, and in about 20 group exhibitions in Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ukraine and Turkey,
He enjoys reading crime fiction and growing houseplants.