Recently celebrating its 45th anniversary, Sirius Glassworks is one of the longest running art-glass studios in Canada. The studio has been making handblown vessel work since 1976. Sirius is a family run business based on the styling of master glassmaker Peter Gudrunas. Using traditional methods first developed over 2000 years ago, Peter is an artisan working in an ancient medium, forming contemporary glass that is prized for its classic beauty. Peter collaborates with his daughter Iris Fraser-Gudrunas who designs contemporary iterations influenced by vintage Sirius designs. The decoration for the Nassau series draws heavily on chance and experimentation by recycling 'failed' pieces within the studio. Work that cannot be sold is reused after it is crushed into shards and rolled onto new work. It is then shaped with hand tools made of wood and steel while the glass is molten. 

Peter says of his craft; “To work with glass is to work with light, both reflected and refracted. I draw inspiration from the glass itself- the material is fluid and transforms from something very responsive to something very fragile. It has its own unyielding rules- I have to stop when the piece is ‘right.’ It requires a certain kind of flexibility that can continually lead down new paths. Even an imperfection can lead to an entire new series of objects.” In our technologically sophisticated time, glass retains even more of its historic mystery- every piece is made by hand and will never be duplicated.