BOB CROOKS

“Bob Crooks is one of Britains most highly recognised leading glassmakers. Renown for the high quality, skilfully executed dynamic forms and surfaces, he has been producing over the last twelve years. Continuously thinking of original and challenging ideas. His work has been exhibited at International level and in noted exhibitions in Italy, China, Scandinavia, Australia and the US, alongside many exhibitions at home in the UK.

Each piece is designed, handmade and finished by Bob. No moulds are used to create the forms or surfaces achieved.

The pieces are inspired by Geometry, Architecture, the natural and Man-made worlds we live in as well as the qualities and capabilities of the glass itself. Throughout the variety of the work, Bob exploits the many properties of the material through refraction or reflection; sharpness or softness, transparency or opacity, working with it’s fluidity and ‘freezing’ it as the desired form is realised.

Within the range of production work made, Bob has consciously developed work that is, because of the nature of different applications, a one-off it is not possible to make two pieces identical.

The Unique pieces have now escalated in size, creating a more dramatic statement. Although large scale, closer inspection reveals intricacies which demand closer inspection. The resultant objects demonstrate a masterly love of the material with attention to fine detail.” Sarah Edwards

Born in 1965, London Bob Crooks studied for his degree at West Surrey College of Art & Design. He went on to assist at glass-studios in London, later becoming Workshop Manager at ‘Glassworks (London) Ltd’. In 1990 he set up his own glass studio ‘First Glass’, in Gloucestershire, moving this to Clapham, London in 1994, he has now relocated “Bob Crooks: First Glass” to Devon.