Soneva Fushi’s Glass Studio is at the winsome confluence of art and environmental awareness. Recycled glass from the resort’s Eco Centro makes its way to the studio and is transformed into charming glassware, or valuable works of art by some of the world’s most sought-after artists. At the studio, guests can be a part of an incredible event right amidst the beautiful Indian Ocean, and they can view and purchase unique and captivating works. Plus, guests can try their hand at crafting their own, and purchase items from the resort’s collection to be shipped back home. In this Back of the Haus installment, we examine Soneva Fushi’s Glass Studio and its alchemical process of turning waste into art.
Waste glass is sorted, crushed, and cleaned at EcoCentro, Soneva Fushi’s recycling hub. The glass that goes to the Studio is usually clear.
This glass is melted in the furnace at a scorching 1300 degrees. There’s a special day for just this when they load the furnace with fresh glass, melting about 20 kgs of crushed glass every two hours.
A glass artist blows the first bubble into the glass at the end of a blowpipe and shapes it.
The bubble becomes a cylinder and the glass blowers shock it by dipping it in water, producing a crackled surface.
They transfer the cylinder from the blowpipe to an iron, and the opening left from where the cylinder was connected to the blowpipe eventually becomes the opening of the glass.
The glass then cools down slowly in the studio’s lehrs or cooling down ovens from a blistering 700 degrees to room temperature over 24 hours.
You can find the glasses on the shelves of the So Glasscycle boutique and they are pretty popular with guests. They symbolise the success of Soneva’s Waste to Wealth initiative.
