Will Shakspeare

Will Shakspeare is one of the country's best known glass blowers. He has been featured regularly in the press and on TV including Inside The Factory, Kirstie's Homemade Home and Kirstie's Homemade Christmas with Kirstie Allsopp, and in the Telegraph Magazine with David Nicholls. Will set up Shakspeare Glass over 25 years ago and has supplied many galleries and well-known stores in that time. He has also worked in Central and South America as a consultant in glass production and design for various NGO's. In more recent years he has been joined by his wife Kate who generally looks after the trade side of things. Will works with a small and very talented team of glass assistants.

Will says of his work: “I make a wide range of different designs which are constantly evolving. I deliberately design glass with a random factor, an aspect that is beyond my control. I try and use colour so that it affects the final shape of the piece in a natural and fluid way. In doing this I have to work with the glass rather than completely imposing my own constrictions."
And on inspiration "There is something magical about water, from just wondering why the bath always drains one way to the awesome destruction of the ocean.
I have always loved rock pools; I have albums of photographs taken over the years of different pools in different places. They fascinated me when I was small and they still do.
Now the flow of the tide is becoming an intrinsic part of my work, both in pools and the sea. The reflection of sunlight as the tide pulls back and forth on the plants and creatures in the water is something that has eluded me with a camera or pencils. To me it seems plain to use glass as a medium for this expression. Glass captures the qualities I love about the sea and water in a fluid way as no other can.
I am also getting more influenced by the landscape around the levels, the relationship and colours of the sky and land. I love looking at what joins them, the rhymes, reeds and willows."