Cranberry Red Glass-ware, hand blown in Porlock Exmoor, makes the perfect gift for the 40th birthday and wedding celebrations

Cranberry Red Glass-ware, hand blown in Porlock Exmoor, makes the perfect gift for the 40th birthday and wedding celebrations

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Utilitarian works of art made by the sea

Glassmaking has existed as an art form for many centuries. The first evidence we have of glass made by man back to 2500 BC.

Throughout the ages there have been many different styles, colours and varieties of glass made both for practical and decorative purposes.

At Exmoor Glass we follow an ancient method of manufacture. We gather glass molten from a furnace then blow it and shape it by hand into a range of contemporary and traditional designs. Cranberry Glass is the most popular style of glass we make at Exmoor.

Originally, Cranberry became popular as a colour in the 1800s following the lift of a glass tax that had been imposed on British Glass manufactures. Coloured glass made in England came mainly from Bristol and the glassmakers there experimented with different colours.

The rose tint of Cranberry is a distinctly English colour. Red glass was produced on the continent but in much darker, heavier colours. The secret of the Cranberry shade that the English made was that they added gold to the molten glass, as an expensive but very powerful colouring agent.

Today at Exmoor Glass we make Cranberry Glass to the original recipe. We have combined what we believe to be the best of traditional and modern design to create this striking range of individually made handcrafted Cranberry Glassware.

Visitors are always welcome at out Gallery and studio at Porlock weir, where we can be seen at work making our Cranberry glass and other ranges.

The first evidence of glass, in the form of glass beads, dates back to Mesopotamia around 2500 BC.

The Phoenicians were the first to learn how to blow glass with a blowing iron. A gather of glass was collected from the furnace and rolled into the light-bulb stage on a flat stone or iron surface known as a marver. The shape was then freely blown and worked to the desired shape. During the shaping it would need to be re-heated to 1100 °C to maintain the treacle-like consistency of the glass. A solid iron rod called a pontil would have been used to transfer the piece from the blowing iron in order to open and work the tap. The completed piece would have been placed inside an annealing oven and left to cool overnight.

Glassmaking went into decline after the fall of the Roman Empire, as Europe descended into the Dark Ages. A renaissance began in Venice in the 13th century and by the 1400s glasshouses were being established throughout Europe.

The basic recipe for glass remained unchanged until 1676 when George Ravenscroft discovered that by adding lead to a mixture of silica, lime and potash or soda, he could produce a stronger, heavier and more brilliant glass.
Coloured glass has been in existence since the very early days of glassmaking. The Romans and Egyptians showed great skill in their use of metallic oxides to colour glass. It was the Bristol glassmakers however, most famously Lazurus and Isaac Jacobs from the 'Nonsuch' Glassworks in the Redcliffe district of the city, who first added cobalt oxide to lead glass to produce a vibrant blue glass which is famous throughout the world today as 'Exmoor Glass'.
Exmoor Glass : About : Exmoor Glass Today

Our team of highly skilled glassblowers use the same tools and techniques as their illustrious fore fathers. Each piece is freely blown and fashioned to produce the finest , most distinctive and original glass.
We are based in Porlock, Somerset.