Looking back at glass

This large format print story appeared in the February 2024 issue of National Geographic magazine. It received an Award of Excellence from the Society for News Design.

The graphic traces the timeline of glass production from its establishment around 1600 B.C. to the present day. It features a gallery of noteworthy objects invented over 35 centuries that have transformed culture and technology, becoming a central part of daily life. From humble ingredients like sand and plant ashes, this vitreous substance can be made using a formula similar to that used for today’s window panes and bottles. However, many other formulas have been developed, giving us oven-safe, bulletproof, and outer-space-resistant glass, among others.

Appropriately, the basis of the graphic consists of two stained-glass panels built from pieces that I cut, painted, and assembled using traditional methods associated with church windows and Tiffany lamps. Curators and librarians at the Corning Museum of Glass greatly assisted with research and fact-checking, and I would not have been able to fabricate stained glass without learning the techniques at the Art League school.

Watch the making-of video produced by National Geographic for social media.