Life and the discovery of glass has been anything but ordinary for Saman Kalantari. Saman was born in Shiraz in Iran on 21st of September 1972 and raised during the revolution of Ayatollahs, Iran-Iraq war and many social conflicts in an absolutist state. In 1992 Saman started working as a ceramic artist since 1992 but had to flee his country in 2004 and since then has been living in Italy as a political refugee. Saman discovered glass in 2005 when he began a two-year course at Vetroricerca Glas & Modern in Bolzano. To Saman this material expressed his life: the social and political experiences of life both in Iran and in Europe. In 2007 he received his diploma and since then he has held several exhibitions and has been published in Glasshouse, an international magazine for studio-glass.
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Rating: 0How did you get started with glass?
It was 2005 by pure chance, I went inside a gallery and there was a glass exhibition called "Frangibile 2" and I found some information about Vetroricerca Glas & Modern school which had organized the show. I visited the school and I decided to apply and fortunately I was granted the opportunity to study there. They select 15 or 16 students out of hundreds of applications every two years.
What was your first glass piece?
Honestly my first works were those exercises during the early weeks of school, I don't remember exactly my first one. But the first work I liked myself was called: "Fragile national security " which was an installation with glass and video.
What area of glass art do you specialise in?
I have learnt a number of different techniques and I use them based on the concept I'm working on. I'm not a glass blower but a kiln form glass artist so in this area I would have to say my favorite techniques are Pate de verre and kiln casting.
What have been your major accomplishments to date?
- Winner of the Newcomer award from E-merge 2008 USA
- Winner of a fellowship from Creative Glass Center of America for 2010
- Finalist in E-merge 2010 USA
- Winner of warm-glass award UK 2010 (highly commended artist)
What is your favourite glass working tool and why?
Well I use different kinds of sieves to separate glass frits. They help me a lot to have more control over it. But still my favorite tools are my fingers maybe because I used to work as a ceramic artist.
Whose work do you admire and why?
God!!! there are lots of them...but Libensky is my myth.
Where do you get your inspiration for pieces from?
Inspirations are like flowers: some of them you get the seed, you put it inside your garden and you grow it. But some of them are like wild flowers they just grow up by themselves and you don't know how and when it happened yet both are beautiful.
What do you enjoy about glass working?
It helped me a lot to be more patient even if it is still difficult. When I put some pieces inside the kiln, especially the big ones and I have to wait several days to open the kiln and watch the result - it kills me. I think it may be like when you are going to be a dad - although I don't have any children myself I can imagine it is like waiting almost nine months and then those last hours inside the hospital before your partner gives birth are the worst and best.
What is your top tip for someone wanting to start doing what you do?
Think about it twice before you start working with glass. It's expensive and addictive, complex and un-predictable. It is like falling in love: you will not always get what you expect from it but it is still worth trying it, so do it.
Links
- View the Artist's Gallery on Glass Community
- Saatchi Gallery
- Saman Kalantari Blog
- Bullseye Glass Gallery
- Warm Glass Prize Gallery
- Wheaton Arts
- Glasshouse Magazine (glashaus 3/2009)
