Q&A With Our Glass Globes Supplier
Creators of one of the Bazaar's best selling products, the unique recycled glass globes on gamal wood. A true example of sustainability the recycled window glass is melted down, heated, blown to a bulbous shape, then allowed to cool on the wood to make a perfect fit. The wood slightly chars creating unique character in every piece!
Q&A's
Who else helps you in the business and to make products?
We are a husband and wife team but of course our workers and other people are involved in the business, like suppliers.
Who taught you how to make your product?
Komang learned through experimentation after seeing similar designs on the internet and from other suppliers and trying to do something similar.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Inspiration can come from anywhere, from internet, a place we have visited and maybe some of our customers’ requests when they have unique ideas and we decide to keep making them!
What are some of the challenges you have face in the last year?
This last year we have faced so many challenges, such as the covid situation which is why we have to reduce the workers and we see many competitors doing the same, also no foreign people come to our shop because of travel restrictions.
Where do you get your material from?
The glass is from recycled glass, we have the supplier in Bali. Stainless steel and wood also comes from suppliers around Bali.
What is your favourite product to make?
Our favourite product is to make is molten glass, they are also the best-selling!
Glass to fire, fire to wood, wood to art
THE PROCESS
01.
RecyclEd glass
It all starts with this magic ingredient which gives the globes and vases their shape, colours and properties depending on the colour of the glass. The glass comes from around a well known island in Indonesia and is known as "cullet" , which is then mixed with glass making batch materials like limestone, sand, or soda ash to supplement the new mixture of glass and improves its melting ability and makes it workable.
02.
Fire it up
The cullet mixture is fed into a furnace and heated to the melting point usually to temperatures of between 1,427 and 1,538 degrees Celsius (2,600 and 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit)
03.
Start to shape
The molten glass is prepped for being blown into shape including creating a natural part that will break off and form the top of the finished product. This is done using metal tools and being careful not to just the superheated glass!
04.
blOwn away
This technique has literally been used to form glass since the 1st Century! The molten glass it picked up on the end of a hollow tube and blown and spun into a shape. Not much pressure is need to get the glass expanding while its molten. Each time it cools down to much it goes back in the furnace to turn it molten again.
05.
fire meets wood
Once the glass has been blown to the desired size a piece of gamal wood, often collected from the beaches or leftovers from logging, the molten glass is set upon it, often lighting the wood on fire and giving it its finalized charred appearance. As the glass cools it holds the shape of the wood imprinting into the formerly almost liquid bottom.
06.
Final TOuch
Once the glass has cooled to its base it is broken off from the blow tube and given to a worker with a sander to grind off the sharp/rough edges of the top and then pair it back with the base for finally cleaning and sending to the showroom or packaging for clients (like us!)
07.
fin
Komang holds a finished tulip glass product, the result of several hours of labour and sweat. The workers in this shop turn out thousands of these unique and beautiful glass globes every year and ship them all over the world. We are proud to work with them and to be able to know them as artisans and people. Their work is impeccably and if you've been to the Bazaar you know thats the truth!
What do you want the people who buy your product to know?
"You know what you are buying, I mean we need people to know what our strengths are when they buy our product. We try to sell good things and hope they can sell too because we (the clients) are a team." - Komang
Finally we asked what was the best part about where they live, "We live near our big family and neighbours, and it so wonderful to have them around us it brings us the most joy, seeing them happy and spending time with them makes us happy!" Now that's something we can all agree with!
Glass Globe White Wash Wood - 7.5"
$48,00
Great as a terrarium, to house fairy lights, or simply as a unique accent. These differ from the natural wood shapes with its white wash coating that makes it suitable for minimalist home design.
Hanging Blown Glass Bowl-Small
$42,00
These hanging glass bowls are a unique item that is rather new to the Bazaar. Made using the same process but without the base hang these in a window with a hanging plant and bring abstract goodness to your home.
