Karen Lise Krabbe is one of the best european master artisans that dedicated their lives to glass sculpture. Karen began her glassmaking career in the early 1990s, runs her workshop in Aarthus, Denmark and is a well-known name in international and national exhibitions.
©Karen Lise Krabbe
Her works were always focused in the use of composite materials where two or more ingredients melt together and form a new one with different properties and expressions. Her material research is intense, but she mainly uses glass, silicates and bio-materials.
“IT”, made with pulled canes, sandcast and slumped ©Karen Lise Krabbe
“IT” ©Karen Lise Krabbe
“IT” ©Karen Lise Krabbe
The silica group, where she focusses her research, has properties strongly related to those of glass. Karen loves to explore the aesthetics and physical potentials of materials by exposing them to innovative techniques, but she also combines her creative talents with the knowledge of traditional techniques of glass and ceramic craftsmanship. Some of the materials she uses are ancient, others are her own creation.
“The Swarm”, 3d printing by hand, sand cast pâte-de-verre ©Karen Lise Krabbe
“The Cloud” ©Karen Lise Krabbe
Her artisan work starts using powdered materials, she builds layer upon layer to create a two-dimensional surface before each added and melted layer gradually shapes the piece into a three-dimensional sculpture. She uses sand as a freely shaped mold to place and contain each layer before it is fired.
“Oval vessel” ©Karen Lise Krabbe
SEED is the name of the handmade glass sculpture built from sand cast pâte-de-verre showed at “The Best of Europe”. The precision of Karen’s work makes it seem like it was printed by a 3D printer. The jagged layered shape is evocative of a large seashell. Blind Boxes For No Thing was another art piece from Krabble present at the exhibition. Three handmade boxes built in sand cast pâte-de-verre seem to have been shaped by a 3D printer. The shapes are evocative of desert rocks or a rocky sea surface, eroded by time.
“Blind Boxes for No Thing” made of sand and glass using the patê-de-verre technique ©Karen Lise Krabbe
“Blind Boxes for No Thing” Detail ©Karen Lise Krabbe
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