“..you take a minute longer to think and your gather is no longer hot enough. Or you just miss the right moment or make a wrong movement and it is all gone… But we keep learning. You dream about an object, make drawings, everything is prepared well, everybody is ready and then everything changes right there by the furnace. Sometimes glass will have the last say.”
Ondřej Strnadel was born, studied and has been living whole his life in a a small Moravian town. Strnadel graduated as designer from the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín in 2000. He teaches there, as well as at the High-School for Applied Arts and Glassmaking in Valašské Meziříčí. Strnadel is both an artist as well as a highly skilled craftsman; that makes it possible for him to create all his objects purely by himself. He loves to experiment with bright colour palette, such as shades of yellow and even various tones of black. He creates his works by layering different shades of glass on top of each other. This technique helps him to achieve a very special, deep and luminous surface with a matte, almost velvety feel to it. All these effects and combinations of techniques stem from his own know-how combined with blowing and hot shop forming. Strnadel studied different shapes, starting with round vessels and in 2019 he is more interested in the idea of rectangular cubes in varying sizes. He dedicated several years to explore one of these series. Only after he exhausts the possibilities of a certain range of shapes can he move on to a new one. There is a lot of dedication and tenacity visible in his work, together with a sense of innovation and humor. His “yellow corns” and “black cubes” have been sold successfully to collectors around the globe in past years.
Interview:
Ondřej Strnadel: In the hot shop, you are never alone
Ondřej Strnadel: Glass and shape to speak common language
Solo exhibitions (selection): 2019 Soap, Galerie Kuzebauch, Praha 2016 Klid Neklidu, Galerie Kuzebauch, Prague 2016 Skryto uvnitř, Muzejní a galerijní centrum, Valašské Meziříčí 2015 Nejen Dechem, Výstavní síň Stará radnice, Hranice 2014 Ta realita, Galerie Kuzebauch, Prague 2012 Sklo z Krásna, s J. Divínem, Galerie Vlastimila Rady, Železný Brod 2011 SKLO, Galerie Crears, Rožnov pod Radhošťem 2009 Sklo, s J. Divínem, Galerie Stuki Opole (PL)
Collective exhibition (selection): 2016 Křehký Mikulov with Galerie Kuzebauch, Zámek Mikulov 2016 EX – IGS, Glass Art Center hut Francis, Sázava 2015 Slow! Glass!, Ambiente 2015, Frankfurt nad Mohanem, (D) 2015 IGS 2015, Glass museum, Nový Bor 2012 Art and Craft in glass 2012, Glass museum, Nový Bor 2011 Tři České zdroje pro současné sklo, Glassmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld-Lette, (D) 2011 “Hledání skla”, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague Awards: 2012 Prize for DESIGN and honorable mention Ricardo Hoineff, Art and Craft in glass 2012, Glass museum, Nový Bor 2009 Junior Glass Match, SPA Sanssouci, Karlovy Vary 2009 „Pissoir Art Gallery“, Somerston, design pisoár, Brno 2009 Cena sklárny RONA Lednické Rovne for glass design, Slovakia 1996 Glass competition, Kamenický Šenov
Public collections (selection): Galerie Kuzebauch by Happy Materials, Prague Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague Museum of Decorative Arts, Brno Glassmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld-Lette, D Museum city, Železný Brod Museum of glass, Sklárna Novosad a syn, Harrachov Glass museum, Nový Bor Glass museum, Kamenický Šenov
Private collections – Czech Republic, USA, Germany, Netherlands