Looking back at glass

This large format print story was part of the February 2024 issue of National Geographic magazine.

The graphic covers the timeline of glass production from the period it became established around 1600 B.C. until today. It features a gallery of noteworthy objects invented over 35 centuries that transformed culture and technology, becoming a central part of human daily life. From humble ingredients like sand and plant ashes the vitreous substance can be made, using a formula similar to what creates today’s window panes and bottles. But many other formulas have been invented giving us oven-safe, bullet-proof and outer-space resistant glass, among others.

Appropriately, the basis of the graphic are two stained glass panels built from glass pieces that I cut, painted and assembled in the traditional method used in church windows and Tiffany lamps. Curators and librarians at the Corning Museum of Glass greatly helped with researching and fact-checking the information, and I wouldn’t have been able to fabricate stained glass without learning the techniques at the Art League school.

See here the making-of video that National Geographic produced for the social media networks.