Hi Gioanna, how did you end up at Wave?

I started my studies in Hamburg during the pandemic, unfortunately at the time it was difficult to attend workshops. After that period, a professor advised me to go abroad for a while and recharge with new energy. So I decided to go on an Erasmus program in Italy, a dream I had kept in my pocket.

Why did you choose Murano glass?

I really enjoy working with ceramics and the idea of shaping a material. I thought about working with something similar and I liked the smooth aspect of glass, and I wanted to study the combination of the two materials in the objects I create.

What kind of objects do you create?

Gioanna: I work on the sculptural aspect, in the field of industrial design, I would say that my focus is on lighting and home decor accessories such as vases. I am interested in morphology, I like the idea of openness, of something that can be looked inside or through. One of the reasons why I chose glass is because I love the transparency and the play of aspects between the interior and exterior.

I’d like to know more about your degree program in Hamburg. What kind of course are you taking?

I’m studying a degree program in design called “Open Design”. As the name suggests, it’s an open course that allows participants to experiment with many different things. In the first year of the course, we have the opportunity to try different disciplines and then decide which path to follow. The course focuses on industrial design, but there are also many manual workshops available to students, which offer us total artistic freedom.

It sounds very interesting!

Yes, it’s very stimulating! The students in the course have different interests, some are more interested in pure industrial design, while others prefer to experiment with their hands. It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to meet such diverse people and see their ideas and paths.

What did you enjoy most about your experience at Wave?

I had the opportunity to work with glass, and I found that I really loved manual work. Glass is a material that turned out to be different from ceramics, which I have studied in the past. It requires a lot of precision and fast performance in its making.

I really enjoyed seeing the different types of glassmaking and teamwork, but I also had the opportunity to observe the work of a single master. It was very important for me to see the practical aspect of the designer’s work and how a project is made in glass. I saw things that seemed almost impossible to do in glass, but the masters found a way to make them.

After this experience, I feel very inspired and I think I will stay On the path with glass. I would also like to see more glass studios around the world, in the United States, for example. I love the international aspect of glass and the community around it. It has been a great discovery for me and now I have a very clear picture of what I can make in glass