Introducing goblets

Glass artists Davide Penso (Murano), Karina Guevin and Cédric Ginart (both from Montreal) will be Artists in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass and their public demonstrations at the Festival are likely to include the wonderful spectacle of glass goblets being hand-blown.

Simple goblet

Goblets are part of a category of glassware known as “stemware” - drinking vessels on stems attached to a base or a foot. The stem is both decorative and functional – it allows the drinker to hold the vessel without affecting the temperature of the drink within. The word “goblet” derives from the old English word ‘gobelet’ meaning ‘cup’.

From pottery to glass

Glass drinking vessels began to replace clay or metal ones with the invention of transparent glass around 800BC. The attraction of glass was its transparency, which enabled a drinker to enjoy the appearance of a drink as well as its flavour, taste and smell.

Glassblowing was invented in the First Century AD in the Syria-Palestine region of the Roman Empire. Over the next three centuries, glassblowing spread swiftly throughout the Roman Empire and glass vessels spread beyond the exclusive circles of the wealthy.

Since then, goblets have became increasingly complex and decorative – as will be demonstrated in forthcoming posts on this blog!

This is the first in a series of blog posts about the centuries-old tradition of making glass goblets. Among the many and varied creations of our International Artist in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass - Davide Penso (Murano) and Credric Ginarta and Karina Guevin (Montreal) - are extraordinary contemporary interpretations of this tradition.