For Ross’s pieces the fascination with glass’s liquid properties shaped the concept. From the outset he decided to make impressively large sculptural work, having previously only worked with industrially mould made glass.

The first fluid shapes developed were of human size but Ross decided to challenge the maestros to do something never attempted before, scale becoming a barrier beckoning to be surmounted. The amount of glass needed is approximately 25 kgs, and it takes an hour to prepare that much glass for the first gather of blowing alone. A specially constructed platform rigged on a fork lift truck is made to support a maestro being slowly elevated as he blows the huge pieces, involving the attention of the entire factory below. After blowing the cylindrical free flowing structures are flame polished and then carefully transported to the lehr and cooled down for nearly 12 hours. Luckily Venetian cristallo, also known as ‘long glass’, has the right properties for these pieces compared to Scandinavian or Czech glass!

The finished internally lit sculptures sit on lacquered MDF bases hand crafted in Italy and the electrics are developed by some of Italy’s best lighting engineers. Some of the pieces have been treated with an internal mirror finish, also performed by master craftsmen in Venice.

A parallel project that grew on naturally from the unique exhibition pieces is a limited edition series of table lights. These smaller scale internally lit sculptures rest on a highly polished stainless steel base creating a mirror image, bestowing a notion of infinity and alluding to the imposing nature of the unique pieces.