life
INTERVIEW
Clearly a green
glass man
If you could take a chunk
of the swirling ocean with
its turbulence and deceptive
stillness, it would look very
like the glass award Paul
Critchley has made which will
go to the winner of the North
American Transat race. Forget
silver cups: this is a thing of
beauty which encapsulates
the power of the battle, man
against nature.
Paul, of Diamond Isle
Sculptured Glass, likes to
match his trophies to the event
or organisation presenting it.
“It will always remind them
where they won it or how
they won it,” he says. White
Air Extreme Sports festival
gave their extreme winners a
paperweight of challenging
waves. A fluid diamond shape
in recycled blue glass was
made for West Wight Running
Club; blue because that’s their
colour, the shape being the
Island.
You might think that as his
products increase in demand,
50
Paul might begin to lose
interest in entertaining the
daily visitors who come to see
him at Arreton Barns. But far
from it: over the winter he has
had the wall of his glassworks
replaced by a huge viewing
window so more people can
watch the demonstrations
of glass sculpting and,
increasingly, blowing. The
windows are low enough to
enable those in wheelchairs a
good view too.
“I like to share what I do,” he
says. “It’s a special thing.”
Figures form the basis
of much of his work; look
closely at the handles of his
new lines, blown tankards
and jugs, and you’ll find they
are in fact a curved person;
twisted lovers form the stem
of a Russian-style goblet; rows
of people form a celebratory
human arch.
Not everything in the studio
is elaborate; there are things
for every pocket. The robins
and penguins are popular
with children: indeed Paul’s
penguins travel to the Falkland
Islands and his turtles to the
Ascension Islands, to be sold
to tourists there. Maybe next
he’ll get a commission from
Newcastle for glass briquettes.
Because he hates waste, Paul
always recycles his coloured
glass. He doesn’t charge for his
demonstrations, but suggests
contributions to his charity
box which goes to a local
environmental group, Gift
to Nature, and the Kid’s Ark
Foundation, an orphanage in
Thailand. A heat exchanger
has been fitted onto his
furnace to reduce its energy
demands.
He recently won the Green
Island Award for Attraction of
the Year. And guess who made
the trophy?
Diamond Isle Sculptured
Glass, Arreton Barns Craft
Village, Main Road, Arreton
PO30 3AA.
Tel: 01983 523618
(www.sculptured-glass.co.uk)
www.wightfrog.com/islandlife