The (recycled) glass house

Down a labyrinth of alleyways, squeezed between classic Balinese fences is the home of former mask maker, Nyoman Mustrawan. From the front it looks like your average home, except for piles of watery hued glass stacked near the gateway and a dozen motor scooters cramped together.

 

Inside the compound is a very different picture — there are people working in every corner, some are washing and polishing glassware, others are packing products in bubble wrap, while others sand organic wooden forms and fit slumped glass over these.

 

Some years ago Mustrawan saw that his traditional work, making masks, was not going to feed his family so he took on a job with a Japanese glass blower working in the beach side village of Cucukan in Gianyar regency.

 

Developing an understanding of glass blowing and being concerned that so much waste glass was not being reused, half a dozen years ago Mustrawan decided to set up his own glass blowing factory using only recycled glass.

 

“I had the idea six years ago to use recycled glass to make new products. Back then glass was really cheap — it cost just cigarette money from trash pickers. The business has really grown and now we source recycled glass from Denpasar. We go through a ton of glass a week, which these days costs US$100 a ton,” says Mustrawan.

 

His family business, Duta Bali Glass, employs a dozen glass blowers, packers, wood carvers and assistants to fill the ever growing orders from Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia; overseas buyers make up 70 percent of orders and sales says Mustrawan, who would like to see greater interest in recycled hand blown glass products from the domestic market.

 

Fragile: Absolute focus and skill under searing conditions are required to blow red hot glass.“We do hope to get interest from within the Indonesian market. Our products are good for the environment because we take a waste product and make it a useable object again, rather than wasting this material,” says Mustrawan, pointing out that every new glass object needs mined sand for its production, and recycling reduces that mining need.

 

Working with his dad is 28-year-old glass blower, Ketut Sudiarna, who trained under his father, Mustrawan. Besides challenging his artistic curiosity, Ketut says using recycled glass also addresses his environmental concerns for the future.

 

“Here working with glass, it’s like my hobby has become my business. I really like blowing glass, especially knowing it’s recycled, because we have to be concerned about global warming. Here we reprocess glass and use it again rather than buying mined sand to make our glass,” says Ketut, who has been blowing glass for four years.

 

This is a demanding craft form, adds Ketut. Open faced kilns melt the glass at 1,700 degrees celsius and the glass is then gathered on a hollow steel rod. As one craftsman shapes, the other blows the glass vessel into being.

 

“Everything here is handmade, we have no machines. It’s really hot work, but no one has ever been burnt or injured, even though we can’t wear safety clothing because we have to work fast. The glass blowers here are all professionals who know exactly what they are doing,” says Ketut,

 

Another family member, Made Dharma, is the family’s production manager. He says the decision to move from making wooden masks into reforming recycled glass has been of great benefit to his entire family, include staff of the uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, all working for the same goal.

 

“In the past we made wooden handicrafts, but that started to really slow down. My brother, Mustrawan was working for a Japanese glass blower and learnt the skills needed to do this. As a carver he already had a lot of artistic ability and so those skills are now utilized here,” says Made, adding that new designs are created by the glass blowers themselves and also through interaction with buyers.

 

The product range of recycled glass is enormous, from pristine perfume bottles with blown glass stoppers to chandeliers made from hundreds of droplets frozen in glass. Currently the design sensation is glass bottles slumped over wooden tree branches, says Made, pointing to row after row of slumped glassware glistening in the sun.

 

Requiring great technique, the bottles are blown then momentarily draped over the branches for a perfect fit, without the boiling hot glass burning the wood, explains Made.

 

In the future this glass blowing family hopes to expand and recycle even more glass rather than seeing such a valuable recyclable product lost to the scrap heap.

  

Hot stuff: Plates are made in heat proof moulds.

 

Teamwork: Two craftsmen are needed to form new objects from hot recycled glass.

 

Enlightening: The beauty of liquid glass.

 

Added value: From waste product to high end craftsmanship.

— Photos By JP/J.B.Djwan

Add Comment Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailMore Sharing Services