Ron van der Vlugt

Ron van der Vlugt is based in the central region of the North Island of New Zealand Ron says that it is his life-long fascination with moving colour and light which motivates him as a glass blower. He is intrigued by the elusive challenge of capturing the shifting qualities of light and colour as the glass moves from a glowing, flowing, molten state into a cool, hard, solid shape. This gives his work the sense of movement, an instant of fluid light and colour frozen in glass, which is so obvious in the pieces we have listed. "Ron styles his work method on the Italian glass blowers by working "hot and fast" with few tools, working the glass quickly while it is fluid and hot and relying on the natural forces of gravity and spinning to shape it. " Ron developed his craft first in the US, at California Art Glass, then the Wanganui Glass Blowing School, and then at the Toyama Institute of Glass Art in Japan where he was exposed to Japanese aesthetics and the sophisticated techniques of the Italians.