Peter Layton London Glassblowing

Peter Layton London Glassblowing - Abacus 2014

On a recent trip to Bermondsey I happened upon the ‘Odds & Ends’ sale at London Glassblowing. The first time renowned glass artist Peter Layton is ‘parting with a collection of his most cherished oddities - private experiments, fleeting ideas, and unfinished works lovely preserved over his 50-year career.

It is always a fascinating space, filled with delightful glass objects, but this time it was a chance to buy a little piece that could easily be overlooked.

Anyone with a studio knows there are always projects that get started and never finished, things that go wrong but are still too beautiful (or took 100 hours) to throw away immediately, objects you start but are not sure which direction you will follow next etc…especially if you have been in the space for over 50 years; Peter Layton opened London Glassblowing in 1976. So the opportunity to see some of another persons ‘Odds & Ends’ was too intriguing; and it proved irritable as I left with 2 beautiful glass beads. They were part of his work ‘Abacus’, either left over, or extras created that never quite made it, colour ways that were never employed, they are charming. Not only was I drawn to their form, simplicity and technique but they have a small metal eyelet insert that allowed them to slide along the abacus rail.

Small and, out of context, insignificant they nonetheless persuaded me to hand over £220.00 and leave with my neatly wrapped ‘beads’ feeling happy!

Creativity, especially other peoples, captures you in ways you cannot always understand, but I love my swirly glass beads that could have been on a work of art; but which are now in my studio!