NZ Glass 2

Giovanni Glass was the name adopted by John Croucher and John Leggott for the glass they made together in Auckland between 1991 and 1993.  Giovanni is the Italian form of the name John, and is appropriate to the Italianate sensitivity of the glass they made. A Kiwi murrine on the foot was distinctive of Giovanni goblets             Particularly attractive were colourful goblets, with tulip shaped bowls and candystriped stems.   I had one of these in my collection, when a rather different example was offered for sale on NZ second hand auction site Trade Me.  It was intriguing, so much so that I could not resist bidding for it.  At $43, it was much cheaper than the orange one I had bought new from Masterworks Gallery This example puzzled me, since it had a decoration and a script that seemed to be set into the glass.  The legend read 'Sevilla New Zealand Expo 92', and on the reverse a stylised fern.     I sent an email to John Croucher to enquire, and got a very pleasing response

Greg Smith was a founder member at Avalon Glass on the West Coast of the South Island from 1985 to 1995. Greg talked about this remarkable studio in an even more remarkable talk he gave to the Glass Art Society in Seattle in 2003, and I wrote a blog entry about it in December 2012 at http://newzealandglass.blogspot.com/2012/12/avalon-glass-should-not-be-forgotten.html . In 1995 Greg set up Te Miko studio at Punakaiki with his then wife Carolyn Hewlett. As well as blown glass work they made glass jewellery. Carolyn worked as Greg's hot glass assistant. Te Miko was disbanded in 1999.    In response to this image, Greg Smith said in a Facebook post in 2021: I made this material in a small open cast mold in Oceanside California with Bullseye Glass - scrap and confetti. I got one other piece out of the cast. The centre core was made using ceramic fibre board which at the time was unavailable in NZ. A great help in casting.  I think it was 95. I had Arts CounciI funding for a kiln g