David Reade - Born England 1960

1977    Began working with glass under master glassblower Michael Harris at Isle of Wight Studio Glass. During a seven year period I worked in Southern Ireland and at the Isle of Wight learning glassblowing and designing skills.

1984    After a holiday in South Africa I decided to make it my home, I began by working for Shirley Cloete in her studio in Somerset West, although it was for only 6 months initially it was the beginning of a working cooperation that continued through to 2009 when Shirley gave up making glass due to bad health.

My first studio was in Cape Town sharing with glassblower Gary Thompson. Gary and I created the first full time art glass studio in Southern Africa. We worked mainly on exhibitions showcasing our work in galleries, in this period we both signed each piece.

1986    Built new studio on a farm in Worcester, South Africa sharing with glass artist Kea Verwey. It took 6 months to complete the studio; we worked together until the end of 1986 when Kea left Africa to pursue a different career.

At this time I also left Africa and travelled to Scandinavia where I worked in a small studio in the north of Sweden, during this year I visited and learnt from Sweden’s best master blowers. The simplicity of Scandinavian design has to this day a large influence on my work.

1988    Returned to South Africa to restart my studio in Worcester, at this time I decided to not to concentrate only on exhibitions but to make working relationships with interior designers and architects, this gave me the basis to begin to train assistants and develop my studio.

1992    My wife Lorna (who I met in 1988 in Worcester) and I bought and renovated a 1790 Barn; this became our home and studios “The Barn Glass Studio”. The main structure became “The Barn Art Gallery” where we show our works. Lorna and I both love Africa, we travel in our Landrover to the desert often, this is a huge part of both our inspirations.

In the years at the Barn I took on five apprentices, eventually the available space became too small and Lorna and I decided it was time to search for an additional property to accommodate the growing studio, in 2005 we found and bought a house with a large open area at the back close to The Barn, we built an “aeroplane hanger” of 200m square which became the blowing studio . I have also created a polishing workshop to give finishes to my pieces.

2007   I moved from The Barn to the new studio, my team has grown to nine in total, five in the blowing team and three in the polishing workshop and an assistant who handles the deliveries, invoicing and ordering. Pieter Lakay is my main glassblower, he has been with me for over eighteen years.

 With the larger space and workforce I am able to undertake larger projects and have done installations in both private homes and corporate offices.

I have developed a style of glass which is inspired by the deserts and mountains of Africa. I work with architects and art galleries around the world. I have had many exhibitions and my work is in many private and public collections. Work is in the collections of: Consol Glass, Gilby's Collection, Cultural History Museum Cape Town, Durban Art Museum, Pretoria Art Museum, Pietersburg Art Museum and Stourbridge Glass Museum.