Born in Edinburgh in 1961, Graham Muir began his training in glass at Edinburgh College of Art where he graduated in 1983 with a B A Hons in Glass Design.
Subsequently he worked for a number of small glassblowing studios while undertaking commissions – including engravings of dancers from the Sadlers Wells and The Royal Ballet Companies.
From 1990 to 1999 he gained employment as a visiting lecturer in glass design at the University of Sunderland and began taking an interest in applied arts in the public sector becoming vice-chairman of the Scottish Craft Centre.
Since then he has chosen to concentrate exclusively on developing his work, culminating in 1999 with the setting up of his hot glass studio situated in the Scottish borders.
Presently he designs and makes a wide range of studio glass including perfume bottles and unique stemware, bowls and vases. Graham’s main motivation is in the making of new and interesting production work together with one-off exhibition pieces.
In his exhibition work he maintains his interest by capturing images from nature within the glass, and is at present experimenting with more complex cut and carved forms than the simple vessel forms he has used in the past. He intends these new objects to better reflect and complement the imagery he uses. The techniques learned for this work has also benefited his designs within production work, opening up several new avenues of exploration.
Many attributes of glass attract me to the medium. One special quality is its ability to move and distort the engraved drawings that he applies to the glass whilst it is still hot. At present he is experimenting with this property on the forms themselves: carving and engraving the piece whilst cold, then re-heating them, allowing the flames of the furnace to soften and alter the forms as well as polishing the engraved cuts. Graham says “My current objective is to increase the scale of my work”. His new studio has been equipped to do so!
