THE CRAFT

Glass Flamework

From the state of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh is a significant centre for glasswork. It's the industrial hub for glass manufacturing, creating employment for many artisans in and around the city. These craftsmen use various furnaces to create an array of glassware. These include pot furnaces, regenerative tank furnaces, and fully automatic furnaces.
Heritage Value
The most well-known variety of glass used for centuries is soda-lime glass. It's 75% silica, along with sodium oxide, calcium oxide, and several minor additives. To help mass production, this type of glass is melted within large gas-fired units. The assortment of glass products made includes bangles, bottles, plates, containers, bulb shells, toys and vases, among others.

For manually crafting glass articles, a flow of molten glass at its malleable temperature (from 1050°C to 1200°C) is cut with a shearing blade, forming a glass cylinder referred to as a gob. The gob is guided into paired moulds which are then sealed. An artisan introduces a flow of air from the opposite side of the hollow pipe to mould the glass. The moulds have to be cooled before being used again. As the glass cools, it contracts and solidifies. The objects are then adorned with vibrant colours and patterns, and etchings for their aesthetic appeal.

Firozabadi glasswork or flamework is certified with a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
Memory Vault
The Ministry of Minority Affairs partnered with the National Institute of Design for a glass flamework project under USTTAD (Upgrading Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development). Among the new products from this collaboration between glass artisans and the design team were ‘relaxing stones.’ They were made for acupressure-based relaxation and self-care stimulation of stress points.
Disclaimer:
Any information on this page is anecdotal and based on publicly available details. If you're interested in learning more, click here.
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