Matthew Hall Q + A

Matthew Hall

Technically focused, Hall has a passion for creating minimal, beautiful glass objects that play with light. His work often aims to explore the parameters of the glass process, playing with density, optic effects and the qualities of colour.

Matthew Hall

Technically focused, Hall has a passion for creating minimal, beautiful glass objects that play with light. His work often aims to explore the parameters of the glass process, playing with density, optic effects and the qualities of colour.

You have been working with glass for a long time, what initially drew you to creating glass works?

The thing that drew me to glass initially were the people. In my teens, I went to a SAG party at Point Erin pools in Ponsonby. It was at night time, nobody swimming. Everyone was so interesting, they looked like punks and eccentric rockers and spoke passionately with accents about far out concepts. That night I knew I wanted to be a glass artist.

YOUR GLASS WORKS ARE VIBRANT AND DIVERSE IN THE COLOURS YOU CHOOSE TO WORK WITH. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SELECTING THE RANGE OF COLOURS YOU WORK WITH AND DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE YOU PARTICULARLY LOVE?

Working at Gaffer (The Glass colour factory) was like working at the Willy Wonka's of Glass. Picture frit, billets and bars of every conceivable colour stacked floor to ceiling. Every week I had a new favourite. I wanted all of the colour! I want to recreate the feeling of walking down aisles of colour at Gaffer Glass; the more colours in one space or collection, the better!

Optic effects and playing with light is a strong focus with your glass pieces, do you experiment with different effects whilst glass blowing?

Optics are a huge factor for me. The way light passes through glass brings it to life and gives it motion. I find myself staring at scraps of glass all the time. Everything looks like a tool, I've stabbed glass with Ikebana holders and poured hot glass through mini chip fryer baskets just to see how the glass moves. It's magical stuff.

WHAT DOES A REGULAR DAY IN THE STUDIO LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

The day starts by firing all the gear, getting all my tools ready for the days production, setting callipers etc. Once the temperature has hit the right number, it's time to get into a flow state and next thing you know, the annealers full and it's time to go home. Time flies so fast in the hot shop.

DO YOU PREFER TO LISTEN TO MUSIC IN YOUR STUDIO OR WORK IN SILENCE? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MUSIC TO CREATE A DYNAMIC FOCUS?

My assistant Yao Hotz and I usually listen to music, check out 'Radio Garden'. It's an app which lets you listen to any radio station all over the world. Radio Ottanta is and Italian 80’s radio station that we listened to while we were in Murano. Sometimes we just spin the globe and see where we end up.