Working with glass has become a family tradition and source of income for a family from Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Borislav Korudjikov is a pioneer in this craft.Today he is among the most famous master glassmakers in Bulgaria. He lectures glass and porcelain design at the National Academy of Arts. In Bulgaria, glass processing is taught in the National Academy of Arts, New Bulgarian University in Sofia, the Technical University of Varna and the National School of Applied Arts –Sofia. This craft will not disappear, as long as there are families like Borislav Korudjikov and his daughter Gabby. Borislav and Gabby believe that working with glass is more than a craft. It is their passion.
“I have the feeling that there is glass in my blood. Sometimes I do glass design even in my dreams. I am happy that my daughter has also become a glassmaker”, said Borislav Korudjikov.
Borislav and Gabby have a small studio where they create art glass with style, like the glassmakers in France, the Czech Republic and Northern Europe. “My father and I make glass items together. We appreciate each other’s success. Currently I am making a new type of jewelry”, said twenty-seven-year-old Gabby Korudjikova. She graduated from the National Academy of Arts and studied in her father’s classes, majoring in Glass and Porcelain Design.
“My father and I strive to diversify our collection. One can definitely make a career in this profession. Well, we do not sell that much now because of the new situation related the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. All our items are handmade. We use the cold processing method to make the glass elements of our jewelry. People compare our jewelry to the one made of natural gemstones. We have also worked with natural stones. My father’s machines are so precise that they can even grind diamonds.
My father also makes large glass sculptures. They are quite massive and it takes months to make them. Some of them weigh over 40 kilograms and he uses a water-cooled angle grinder to process the glass. This art is labor intensive and not everyone can afford it. We want to make a kind of a video and film different stages of making glass sculptures, because people cannot imagine how we work. When people see a sculpture displayed in an art gallery, they do not realize how difficult it is to process such an item.”
Borislav Korudjikov created a series of statuettes for the Golden Lyre Award, Manager of the Year Award and various music competitions.
“My father has supported me in everything I do and I love this family craft more than anything. I would not change it for anything else, no matter how many difficulties I go through. I strongly believe that this art will develop in Bulgaria in the future. Currently, there aren’t any great connoisseurs in this country and most of those who can appreciate it are people with fewer opportunities.”
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
Photos: Facebook / Korudjikov ArtGlassUntil the end of the year, the Bulgarian public will meet French culture in the form of a series of film screenings, literary readings, conferences, exhibitions, etc. The occasion is 145 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between..
There are 52,000 students at the biggest higher educational establishment in Portugal, 20,000 of them of other nationalities. Bulgarian culture has been part of this conglomeration of different cultures for more than 30 years. The Bulgarian language..
The tenth edition of the Cinelibri International Book-to-Film Festival opens today with a ceremony in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. This year's theme is "Endless Poetry". The forum will open with Paolo Sorrentino's new..
A colorful graffiti mural, created in connection with the 20th anniversary of Bulgaria's membership in NATO, was unveiled in Blagoevgrad (Southwestern..
Over 100 films and various discussions on current issues await those who seek a first-hand account of events in Ukraine at the fifth edition of ОКО -..
+359 2 9336 661