OR DESIGN glassworks: Creating glorious glass

OR DESIGN glassworks is the super-talented husband and wife team of Oded and Pamela Ravek. I recently had the opportunity to meet with them in their home here in Ottawa, where they have their beautiful glasswork on display.

The funny thing is, I’ve walked by their house quite a few times without even realizing that two amazing glass artisans live there! The beautiful stained glass window in their front door always caught my eye when I walked by, so it was a thrill for me to have the opportunity to see what goes on behind it :-)

Oded used to work in graphic design and Pamela in media and communications. About seven years ago, one of their daughters encouraged them to take up a hobby, and they signed up for classes in glasswork. Their teacher gave them the freedom to explore what they could do with glass. That freedom allowed Oded and Pamela to discover and express their creativity. They don’t use patterns to design their glasswork – they just let the designs flow from the visions in their heads.

They do both traditional stained glass work and fused glass.

 

 

Oded and Pamela took an old antique door, cleaned it up and painted it, and turned it into a beautiful piece of functional glass art.

They create glass inserts for cabinet doors…

Handles and knobs…

And tiles.

Draped pieces are created by removing the piece from the kiln while the glass is still hot and malleable and turning it upside down so the piece sort of folds down onto itself. The number and depth of the folds depends on how long the glass is allowed to drape.

I LOVE this piece… purple & blue & silver and a beautiful organic shape.

These pieces can be used as vessel sinks can or large bowls. The hole for the drain isn’t drilled until the piece is definitely destined to be a sink!

The cool thing about these pieces is that when you look into the edge, you can see the layers of glass that make up the piece. It’s a little fuzzy in this picture, but look at the front edge of the bowl – see how the pieces of green glass look almost suspended in the clear glass? It really gives a whole new dimension to a piece.

You can’t see it too well in the picture, but these lamp shades have a wonderful texture. They were created by layering small pieces of glass on a smooth piece of glass

Check out the curves in this artwork. They remind me of waves on the ocean…

A beautiful triptych. This piece incorporates cabochons and “noodles”. Cabochons are glass gems that are fused to the base piece of glass, giving a three-dimensional look. And noodles are created by pulling glass directly from a vitrograph kiln into squiggly strings. Once they cool, they’re fused to a glass piece, just like the cabochons

Love this cute lizard :-)

Oded and Pamela even make table tops.

My friend Maureen has a beautiful glass insert by Oded and Pamela in one of her living room end tables.

“Couleurs” Image via OR DESIGN glassworks

Don’t these pieces say “fiesta”!? Thin flakes of glass look like confetti suspended in the clear glass. These pieces include a number of cabochons.

This dragon piece is so detailed and colourful.

Speaking of colourful…

As you can see, Oded and Pamela create an extensive and amazing range of glassworks pieces.

If there’s something specific that you want, Oded and Pamela would be more than happy to create a commissioned piece especially for you. This piece was created for homeowners who wanted to bring a bit of their cottage to their home in the city. Subtle little elements like the front tip of a red canoe and a loon were incorporated into the design to personalize it even more.

Image via OR DESIGN glassworks

To learn more about OR DESIGN glassworks and see more of Oded & Pam’s beautiful work, check their web site, their Facebook page, their blog, their Etsy store, and follow them on Twitter.

Thank you Oded & Pamela!

I’m linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Taking simple pieces of glass and turning them into works of art definitely qualifies as a design transformation! Be sure to check out the other transformations going on this week.