Held Breath

A tall teardrop bottle of cobalt glass in the dark, lit from behind so only its edges and the blue in its walls show.

Studio glass since 1962
12 March to 30 August 2027
Five rooms, twelve works

A gather of molten glass turning on the end of a blowpipe inside the glory hole, a thread of it falling away, all lit orange by the fire.

In 1962, two workshops at the Toledo Museum of Art showed that glass could be melted and blown in a small furnace, by one artist, outside a factory. Everything in these rooms follows from that.

1 Cobalt

A trace of cobalt oxide, often less than a tenth of one per cent, turns a whole pot of melt a deep, even blue. It has coloured glass since antiquity, and it still colours more of it than anything else.

Deep Water: a blown vase of dense cobalt glass standing in blue haze, lit from behind so the colour fills its whole body. — 1.1 **Ines Vaart** *Deep Water*, 2019. Blown glass, cobalt. 46 × 24 cm. Lent by the artist.

2 Amber

Amber comes from iron and sulphur together, in a fire starved of air. The same batch melted in a clean flame stays pale; in a smoky one it turns to honey, then to brown.

Honey Weight: a dark amber bottle with a narrow neck on a stone floor, raking sunlight turning its shadow to honey. — 2.1 **Hanne Sollie** *Honey Weight*, 2008. Blown glass, iron and sulphur, fired smoky. 41 × 22 cm. Lent by the artist.

3 Gold ruby

Gold ruby holds a few parts of gold in a hundred thousand. It leaves the furnace almost colourless; reheated, the gold gathers into particles far too small to see, and the glass strikes red.

Struck: a round, deeply ribbed vessel of gold ruby glass glowing red on a lit white plinth in the dark. — 3.1 **Aiko Mori** *Struck*, 2022. Blown and ribbed glass, colloidal gold, reheated; shown lit from below. 28 × 30 cm. Lent by the artist.

4 Uranium

Uranium turns glass a yellowish green, and under ultraviolet light it glows. This room is lit with ultraviolet; the glass is safe to stand beside.

Service for Six: a stoppered decanter and small cut glasses glowing yellow-green under ultraviolet light in the dark. — 4.1 **Petr Hála** *Service for Six*, 1998. Blown and cut uranium glass, shown under ultraviolet light. Decanter 34 cm. Private collection.

Cup and Saucer: a uranium glass cup and saucer glowing bright green under ultraviolet light, doubled in a black mirror. — 4.2 **Nadia Haddad** *Cup and Saucer*, 2021. Pressed uranium glass, shown under ultraviolet light. Saucer 15 cm. Lent by the artist.

5 Clear

Clear is the hardest colour to make. Iron in the sand tints every melt green; manganese, once called glassmaker’s soap, cancels it.

Held Breath: a clear cast form holding a few large trapped bubbles, standing on a rough block of basalt in a shaft of light. — 5.1 **Ruth Okafor** *Held Breath*, 2024. Cast glass with trapped air, on basalt. 34 × 18 cm. Commissioned for this exhibition, and the work it is named after.

Checklist

No.	Artist	Work	Year	Made	Lent by
1.1	Ines Vaart, born 1971	Deep Water	2019	Blown, cobalt	The artist
1.2	Tomasz Wilk, 1938–2011	Night Bottle	1968	Free-blown, cobalt	Maas Glass Hall
1.3	Lotte Brandsma, born 1984	Seven Blues	2023	Blown, seven strengths of cobalt	Private collection
2.1	Hanne Sollie, born 1960	Honey Weight	2008	Blown, iron and sulphur	The artist
2.2	Joaquín Ferrer, born 1977	Tide Line	2016	Blown and cut, amber	Private collection
3.1	Aiko Mori, born 1981	Struck	2022	Blown and ribbed, colloidal gold	The artist
3.2	Mirela Stan, born 1969	Before and After Heat	2011	Two blown vessels of one gold glass, one struck	Maas Glass Hall
4.1	Petr Hála, born 1955	Service for Six	1998	Blown and cut, uranium	Private collection
4.2	Nadia Haddad, born 1988	Cup and Saucer	2021	Pressed, uranium	The artist
4.3	Oskar Lind, born 1949	Daylight Test	1979	Pressed, uranium	Maas Glass Hall
5.1	Ruth Okafor, born 1990	Held Breath	2024	Cast, with trapped air	Commissioned
5.2	Wen Liang, born 1975	Soap	2014	Blown, cleared with manganese	Private collection

Visit

Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00 to 18.00
Thursday until 21.00
Where: Glashaven 40, Rotterdam
Ten minutes’ walk from Blaak station
Admission: €18, under 18 free
Thursday evenings €12
Access: Step-free throughout. Room 4 is lit with ultraviolet; ask at the desk for a daylight tour.