By setting up a portable furnace upcycled from a shopping trolley and other discarded items, installed in the backyard of 50 Aberfeldy Street from 21st-24th November 2019, we started with a demo and open registration for the weekend workshops. Professional glassmakers Tom Chadwin and Freya Bernard guided participants through the process of blowing and shaping molten glass, each piece designed to be part of a larger construction now exhibited for a week in early December. A previous work with some similarity can be seen here https://vimeo.com/148330720
The resulting collaborative chandelier was made from individual pieces created by participants, which was exhibited in the front of the next-door unit with a public opening on Thursday, 5th December from 4-9 pm as part of east London’s ‘First Thursdays’ initiative organised by Whitechapel Gallery. The chandelier was installed for a week, after which participants collected their individual pieces to keep by visiting The Tommy Flowers between 5-11 pm from Thursday 12th-Saturday 14th and from 3-7 pm on Sunday 15th December. The Thames Plate Glassworks was a large manufacturer on the nearby River Lea in the 19th Century, linking into the industrial heritage of Poplar.
Project made possible with a Culture Seeds grant from the Mayor of London, with continuing support for 50 Aberfeldy Street, from Aberfeldy Big Local and Poplar HARCA. Special thanks to glassmaker Jon Lewis, who runs regular workshops from his studio at Parndon Mill, Harlow.
