Welcome to the Glass Age

141 recycling, reminding us that recycling is not a contemporary phenomenon and dates back to early Roman glass making, with evidence that most Roman glass was recycled or reused. The Norwegian glass artist Tyra Oseng-Rees discussed her work, which she creates by upcycling recycled glass bottles into a sustainable material for wall panels and tiles for bespoke interior and architectural projects. Her work has a beautiful marble-like finish as the glass has gone through a crystallisation phase in the firing (Figure 9.1). British glass artist Hannah Gibson discussed her figurative casts, which are part of a growing series of work called ‘Recycling Narratives - Whispering Sweet Nothings’. She first started working on this series in 2015 as a way to start a commentary on recycling and sustainability and to explore where glass comes from and the transformation it can make. ‘Shattered Past’ (2021) is a set of iconic kiln cast glass figures which are made from recycled car windscreen glass (Figure 9.2). Figure 9.2. Hannah Gibson, ‘A Shattered Past’, 2021, kiln cast recycled glass, 4cm, 9cm, 27cm, 41cm. Source: Alick Cotteril.