Michael Robinson
Robinson has found glass to be the ideal medium to express the forms found in nature — the fluid motion of wind and water and the shapes of the creatures that inhabit those realms — because glass echoes nature; it is enduring but fragile. This is the underlying message of glass. A message that Robinson endeavors to convey in his work.
Lampworking is the specific technique of glassblowing that Robinson employs to create his designs. All of Robinson’s designs are worked freehand in an open flame. Glass rod is heated to its melting point in an oxygen/propane torch or “lamp." This molten glass is then formed into various shapes using only simple hand tools, gravity and other pieces of glass rod.
Robinson is a second-generation glassblower who, as a young child, watched his father work hot glass in an open flame. Molten glass became a familiar medium for Robinson as he honed his skills working as a scientific glassblower. Such exacting work set Robinson’s technical skills, but he credits his childhood exposure to glass for forming the solid foundation upon which his creations stand today.