Jakub Berdych (* 1953) who, in 1983, after several years working at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague, decided to go out on his own. Since then he has made a name for himself as a sought-after restorer of historic interiors, and as a designer and glass artist. And that’s why he has also been working as a lecturer at the Department of Design at the Technical University in Liberec since 2003. What connects Berdych’s work is the world around him and the tracks that humans leave behind them. He walks through the earth with his eyes open and with an open mind and literally recasts what he sees into glass, be it sculptures, bottles or vases. He is creative in the true sense of the word; he is exceptional in the art of brevity and being to the point, has a sense of hyperbole and contextual hide and seek. He can simply create ‘extraordinary ordinariness’ from glass, sometimes according to glass puritans, even showing disrespect for the material, indeed, with the same gusto as his fellow artists , who are a generation younger than he, for that matter. Jakub is not a dreamer; he’s a glass realist. He knows what he himself can afford to do and what the material can do. Potential only makes sense for him if it is actually used. This is not cold rationale. In his vision of the world, there is still that ever-present, almost childlike pleasure of finding something for the first time, that feeling that every one of us would love keep within us. And thanks to his work, it’s possible for us to do so too, even if just for a while.
Interview: https://www.materialtimes.com/ptame-se/jakub-berdych-st-bordel-co-po-nas-zbyva-zpracovavam-dal.html
1975–83 works at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
1982–85 collaboration on films since
1983 works as a restorer, designer and glass artist: since
2003 reconstruction of historical interior castle in Cesky Dub
Group exhibitions:
2017 Ekoglass festival, česko-polské sympozium uměleckého skla, Szklarska Poreba, Desná
2017 TULáci, Empírový skleník Pražský hrad, Praha
2017 Kolem umění, Maloskalská galerie Josefa Jíry, Malá Skála
2016 Kolem umění/ O-kolo sztuki, Galerie BWA Jelenia Góra, Polsko
2016 Obrazy, grafika, skleněná plastika – Jakub Berdych a František Hodonský, Galerie pod Radnicí, Zlín
2016 Skleněné městečko Železný Brod
2015 Art Safari 30 de luxe, galerie BUBEC, Praha
2015 Art Safari Plzeň, DEPO2015 Plzeň
2011 Ekoglass festival – IV. česko-polské sympozium uměleckého skla, Szklarska Poreba, Desná
2010 Ekoglass festival – III. česko-polské sympozium uměleckého skla, Szklarska Poreba, Desná
2009 Ekoglass festival – II. česko-polské sympozium uměleckého skla, Szklarska Poreba, Desná
2008 Ekoglass festival – I. česko-polské sympozium uměleckého skla, Szklarska Poreba, Desná
Solo Ehxibitions:
2017 LAHVE, Muzeum skla a bižuterie v Jablonci nad Nisou
2016 SKLO, Sun Gallery Blue House Spa Resort Sanssousi, Karlovy Vary
2011 Jakub i já, Wroclaw, Polsko
Interior realisations:
1983 rekonstrukce historického interiéru zámku v Českém Dubu
1984 rekonstrukce exteriéru divadla F. X. Šaldy v Liberci
1985 rekonstrukce historického objektu kavárny Pošta v Liberci
1986 návrh a realizace kubistické vstupní brány hřbitova v Praze-Ďáblicích
1987 rekonstrukce historického objektu České spořitelny v Liberci
1992 design a realizace interiéru v historickém objektu banky ČSOB v Liberci
1994–96 design a realizace interiéru v Novém kostele v Kolíně nad Rýnem
1996–97 design a realizace interiéru jednotky ARO nemocnice v Liberci
2000–01 design a realizace interiéru Synagogy v Liberci
Public Collections:
Academy of Applied Arts and Design Prague
Museum of Glass, Jelenia Góra, Poland