Collaborative Chandelier

The Tommy Flowers

5 December - 15 December

By setting up a portable furnace upcycled from a shopping trolley and other discarded items, installed in the backyard of 50 Aberfeldy Street from 21st-24th November, we started with a demo and open registration for the weekend workshops. Professional glassmakers Tom Chadwin and Freya Bernard guided participants through the process of blowing and shaping molten glass, each piece designed to be part of a larger construction now exhibited for a week in early December. A previous work with some similarity can be seen here https://vimeo.com/148330720

The resulting collaborative chandelier is made from individual pieces created by participants, to be exhibited in the front of our new next door unit at 48 Aberfeldy Street, with a public opening on Thursday 5th December from 4-9pm as part of east London’s ‘First Thursdays’ initiative organised by Whitechapel Gallery. The chandelier will be installed for a week, after which participants can collect their individual pieces to keep, by visiting The Tommy Flowers between 5-11pm from Thursday 12th- Saturday 14th and from 3-7pm on Sunday 15th December.

The Thames Plate Glassworks was a large manufacturer on the nearby River Lea in the 19th Century, linking into the industrial heritage of Poplar.

Project made possible with a Culture Seeds grant from the Mayor of London with continuing support for 48-50 Aberfeldy Street, from Aberfeldy Big Local and Poplar HARCA. Special thanks to glassmaker Jon Lewis for providing much support, who runs regular workshops from his studio at Parndon Mill, Harlow.