Roger Gandelman is featured during the "26 Days in May" celebration at Smith Galleries

Elegant Perfume Bottle by Roger Gandelman

Roger Gandelman is a glass artist and has been blowing glass for 30 years. Early in his career he decided to put the bulk of his energy into making art glass perfume bottles. He believes he is the only glass artist in the country, perhaps in the world, who has devoted his full artistic efforts into making this object. His bottles, although small in scale, make a grand statement.

He sees perfume bottles as small, elegant treasures; made to be turned, touched, and relished. He strives to make the form organic, smooth, and familiar, with very few sharp angles. The lip is simple and unobtrusive. The interior decoration adds life, movement, and dimension to the piece.

He uses both furnace and torch techniques to make his work. Colored glass is applied to the clear glass surface to build the flowers. The piece is then encased in more clear glass to achieve a multi-layered 3D optical effect. The flowers appear to be suspended inside the glass. Many of his bottles have various exterior lusters applied while the glass is still molten. The bottle is then cut and polished the next day (using diamond grinding equipment) to open up windows in the glass to expose the interior decoration.

He does all the glassblowing in his studio. He works without assistants. Because he does not work with a team, every progressive step in the creation of the piece has to satisfy him. No piece is finished until he thinks it is a beautiful perfume bottle.

He strives try to make his designs timeless…unmarred by passing trends; with flavors from the age of excellence, encased in a contemporary form.

See more of Rogers work here.

Smith Galleries is located in suite J11 of the Village at Wexford at 1000 William Hilton Parkway on Hilton Head Island, SC. Gallery hours are 10 - 6 Monday through Saturday.