Glass Art from Yogyakarta Goes to International

Who would have thought that visible glass bottle waste has no economic value? It can be a work worth hundreds of millions of rupiah. Glass art or glass art is still rarely found in Yogyakarta, even in Indonesia. One of the glass artists from Yogyakarta, Ivan Bestari Minar Pradipta (38). He is a product design graduate and has been working on the art of glass for the last ten years.

Ivan's interest in this unique art began during an internship program in 2011 at a small chemical tube manufacturer. The factory is located in Condong Catur Sleman, and the owner is an expert in chemical tubes, Haji Sunaryo. Ivan began to explore the knowledge gained until he finally became interested in the art of glass (glass art). The glass art that Ivan is engaged in is still relatively rare in Indonesia.

Several glass artists in Bali have the blow method, but the technique is different. Ivan uses flameworking techniques to create his art. Flamework begins with melting glass waste using fire from LPG gas cylinders and oxygen. Then, it is connected to a flame sprayer (torch lighter).

?When the glass was hot and smoldering red, he pulled the glass into a small rod with a tool shaped like a pair of pliers. Then, the glass will be heated and shaped into shapes. Ivan shapes this glass to resemble leaves, tree trunks, the formation of wasps and insects, and miniatures. He uses waste glass bottles and broken windows as raw materials.

Ivan, who has been in the glass art world for a dozen years, often exhibits his works in Indonesia and abroad, in Singapore and Russia. When holding this exhibition, his work usually gets appreciation from glass art lovers. Preference is in purchasing glassworks from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of rupiah. His works are not only enjoyed by connoisseurs of glass art from Indonesia but also by art connoisseurs from abroad. The development of glass art in Indonesia is still lagging from abroad because there are already suppliers of primary materials for glass art. The artists need to choose the type and the color.

In doing glassworks, some obstacles are faced because each glass has a different coefficient of expansion (COE), namely the degree to which the glass expands and contracts. So far, Ivan mostly sells his work offline, especially through exhibitions, both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, to market his work through social media, Ivan is still having problems with shipping. Because glass artwork is very susceptible to shock and impact, many of his works use different glass colors to amaze artists both at home and abroad.

reference : https://www.liputan6.com/regional/read/4918212/perjalanan-seni-kaca-dari-yogyakarta-terbang-ke-rusia