Our founding glassblower Luca Ferraro trained for eleven years on the island of Murano — the epicentre of European glass for seven centuries. The techniques he brought to Cornwall have not been altered or simplified. They have been deepened by the sea.
Every piece in the TIDECRAFT collection references a specific tide — its hour, its force, its colour. We record the Cornish tide tables each year and use them as our design brief. The ocean does not repeat; neither do we.
Glass is liquid in geological time. It flows — imperceptibly slowly — but it flows. A piece made in 2001 is microscopically different from a piece made today. We choose materials that acknowledge, rather than resist, their own nature.
"The furnace runs at 1200°C. The sea outside our studio window is 9°C in January. The collision of those two temperatures — felt in the body, not measured — is where our work comes from."
TIDECRAFT's studio in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall occupies a converted fishing store built directly into the cliff face. Three furnaces. Two glory holes. One annealing oven. Eight glass artists who work in pairs through four-hour sessions, as Murano masters have always done.
Visit the StudioThe blowpipe gathers molten glass from the 1200°C furnace. Each gather is a commitment — too slow and the glass cools and hardens, too fast and the mass is uncontrollable. The weight and heat of the molten glass communicate directly to the glassblower's hands.
The gaffer — the lead glassblower — shapes the gather at the marver, then blows to open the interior. TIDECRAFT uses the Murano parison technique, building form in three stages, reheating between each to maintain workability.
Colour in glass is not paint; it is chemistry. Our oceanic palette — the greens and blues of Cornish seawater — requires precise quantities of cobalt, copper, and iron oxide added during the gather. The colours shift as the glass cools from transparent amber to its final tone.
The finished piece goes immediately to the annealing oven, which holds at 510°C and drops 5°C per hour overnight. Skip this stage and even the most perfectly blown vessel will shatter. Slow cooling relieves internal stress built up during forming. Glass, like people, needs time to settle.
"TIDECRAFT occupies a singular position between fine art and decorative craft that most studios spend careers trying to reach."
Frieze Magazine, 2023"Luca Ferraro brought seven centuries of Venetian glass knowledge to a Cornish clifftop and made something the world has never seen before."
Financial Times — How to Spend It, 2022"The V&A acquisition was obvious. What surprised me was how contemporary these pieces feel beside their permanent collection neighbours."
Apollo Magazine, 2024Each TIDECRAFT commission begins with a conversation about tide, light, and intention. Delivery time is typically 12 to 18 months from acceptance.