Back in the late 1500s, the spectacular landscape of Rosedale was home to a well-kept secret – glass.
Skilled glassmakers, believed to be Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in their French homeland, ran a huge furnace in the dale in the heart of the North York Moors. Forced to work clandestinely because glass-making was subject to hard-to-come-by licences, they produced ‘forest glass’, so called because it was a distinctive shade of green due to the inclusion of local wood ash in the making process.
The Rosedale landscape is a true inspiration. Image: Tony Bartholomew Their industry only lasted a few years, and Rosedale had to wait almost exactly four centuries to play host to the craft again when, in 1995, a pair of young, recently graduated and preternaturally talented glass artists opened a workshop and studio in The Old Forge, just around the corner from the village green.
This month, glassblower Stephen Gillies and his partner in work and life, artist Kate Jones, celebrate their 30th anniversary in the village. During those three decades, the name of Gillies Jones Glass (originally Rosedale Glass) has become known worldwide, with pieces in collections ranging from the Bowes Museum to the V&A and National Museums Scotland, and in exhibitions across Europe, the States, Korea and Japan.
These day, there are two threads to their business – unique pieces, which sell through galleries and to private collectors around the world and command high prices, and their more affordable studio pieces, including the hugely popular limited edition bowls, released four times a year – just 100 of each is available, and they’ve acquired an army of devoted collectors across the globe.
‘It’s always been our ambition to create pieces that are beautifully made and decorated, that people respond to,’ says Kate.
‘The studio pieces are focused around the flora of Rosedale – our most recent featured golden larch, wild garlic, and sycamore – while the bigger, unique pieces have a larger view, an overview of the landscape in which we work. And over the years that’s crystallised and focused and become a clear path for us of where we’re going, and what we want to do.’
‘That was a life-changing moment for us!’ says Kate now. ‘But starting way back in the mists of time before 1995, achieving that level of acceptance was all-consuming, the absolute focus of everything we did for three or four years prior to actually opening our doors. Stephen was travelling, working and extending his apprenticeship – in the UK, in Denmark, the USA and in Switzerland for a couple of years – learning skills and observing how to run a small studio, from little factories to a ‘mom and pop’ operation, which I suppose is what we have now!
‘Before, we were beholden to trade shows and small craft galleries and shops – you had to make a huge volume of pieces just to make a living. But now we can communicate and work with people directly.
‘It’s been a huge, huge change from 35mm slides and fax machines to taking a digital image and sending it over by email to say: ‘Was it this the one? Was it this colour?’’
As the pair approach their sixties, they show no signs of slowing down – although Stephen is now assisted by his brother, Dave.
The heart bowl is just as it sounds – a hemispherical bowl lavishly decorated with hearts and available in different colour combinations, but predominantly pinks and reds, and released just before Valentine’s Day.
‘In five years’ time, I hope we’ll still be here, doing the same thing – making beautiful pieces,’ says Kate. ‘Materials change, ideas change, and Stephen’s glassblowing has evolved and become more and more refined – he’s a really accomplished glassblower and makes the most beautiful blank canvases for me to engrave. It’s just about keeping on refining and honing what we do.’
