Glass bead making is an ancient art form that originated in Ancient Persia and Greece over 3,000 years ago.Hot glass working skills came to us from a long history starting with the Syrians around 1700 BC, the Egyptians around 1450 BC, the Chinese around 550 BC, the Romans at the turn of the first millennium
Some significant historical moments are listed below.
1291: Murano became a center for glassworkers in Venice. During that year the whole industry was moved to the island because of the danger of fire. It remains a famed center for lampworked glass today.
14th-15th Centuries: Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it became widely practiced in Murano, Italy in the 14th century. In 1450 Angelo Barovier, working in Murano, invented Crystallo, a clear soda glass.
16th Century: The use of the word "lamp" in lampwork came from the oil lamps and blowpipes originally used in France and Italy. Artists would use a small pipe to blow (either by mouth or by bellows) into an oil lamp flame. This would often provide enough heat to soften and form the glass.19th Century: Borosilicate glass was first developed by German glassmaker Otto Schott and sold under the brand name "Duran".
20th Century:In 1921, a scientist from the glass factory in Corning, New York, invented a new glass more resilient when heated and cooled, called Pyrex. It was 15 percent lighter and much stronger than soda glass. However, it required a much higher and more powerful heat source to work with the glass. In the 1960s lampwork became recognized as a serious art form. Artist Hans Godo Frabel used his scientific glassblowing training to create large pieces of lampwork glass art in borosilicate.
It was found that adding oxygen and natural gas produced the heat and power needed for pyrex and the traditional oil lamps were replaced with new oxygen and natural gas burners which clamped to the lampworkers workbench.
Today, equipment and tools have continued to become more sophisticated and new tools are experimented, however, many of the original tools from Murano are widely used and are still the most effective.
Though today's artisans no longer use oil-fueled lamps to make their creations, it is still called lampworking, since fire is still needed to melt the glass.
