Bob Crooks

Bob Crooks is one of Britain's most highly recognised leading glassmakers. Renown for the high quality, skillfully executed dynamic forms and surfaces, he has been producing over the last twelve years. Continuously thinking of original and challenging ideas. His work has been exhibited at International level and in noted exhibitions in Italy, China, Scandinavia, Australia and the USA, alongside many exhibitions at home in the UK.

Each piece is designed, handmade and finished by Bob. No moulds are used to create the forms or surfaces achieved.

The pieces are inspired by Geometry, Architecture, the Natural and Man-made worlds we live in as well as the qualities and capabilities of the glass itself: Throughout the variety of the work, Bob exploits the many properties of the material through refraction or reflection; sharpness or softness, transparency or opacity, working with it's fluidity and 'freezing' it as the desired form is realised.

Within the range of production work made, Bob has consciously developed work that is, because of the nature of different applications, a one-off it is not possible to make two pieces identical.

The Unique pieces have now escalated in size, creating a more dramatic statement. Although large scale, closer inspection reveals intricacies which demand ones eye. The resultant objects demonstrate a masterly love of the material with attention to fine detail. Sarah Edwards

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Bob Crooks Curriculum Vitae

Reviews and Articles

Bob Crooks Image Gallery - Available Works

Detail

Contour Bowl

Contour Bowl - Detail

Hand Made Glass

Hand Made Glass Bowls

Vase

Hand Made Glass

Hand Made Glass - Detail

Vase - Detail

Curriculum Vitae

Born:	1965, London.
1985	Humberside College of Higher Education, Foundation Course.
1985-89	West Surrey College of Art "&" Design, BA (Hons)
1986-87	Year out as assistant to Ronnie Wilkinson, former Master Glassmaker of Whitefriars glassworks, at the Glasshouse, Covent Garden, London.
1989-90	Workshop manager at Glassworks (London) Ltd. Assistant to Simon Moore, Catherine Hough and Steven Newell.
1990-1994	Set up First Glass, Newent, Gloucestershire.
1994-2002	First Glass Clapham, London.
2002- present	Relocated with Sarah Edwards "Bob Crooks: First Glass" to Devon.
SOLO AND PAIRED EXHIBITIONS
1990	Art Glass Centre, Schalkwijk, Holland.
1985-89	South Bank Centre, Royal Festival Hall, London.
1993	Galerie Tessel, Den Burg, Holland
1998	Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.
1999	Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.
2000	‘Focus’ – Bob Crooks, Crafts Council at the V"&"A Museum, London.
1990	‘Focus’ – Bob Crooks, Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
2002	Bob Crooks and Zoë Hope, Flow Gallery, London.
	Bob Crooks, White Gallery, Hove, Broghton.
2003	Bob Crooks and Ptolemy Mann, Contemporary Applied Arts London.
	Bob Crooks, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.
	Bob Crooks, Norton Gallery, Spain
2004	Bob Crooks, Susan Megson Gallery, New York.
	Bob Crooks, Primavera, Cambridge.
2005	Bob Crooks, Church Gallery, Devon.
	Bob Crooks, Norton Gallery, Spain.
	‘Focus’ – Bob Crooks, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool.
	Bob Crooks & Karina Thompson, Grace Barrand, Surrey.
2006	‘Focus’ – Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
	Bob Crooks – Solo – Scottish Gallery Edinburgh.
	‘Focus’ – National Glass Centre, Sunderland.
	Bob Crooks –Solo- Susan Megson Gallery, Gloucestershire.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1992	‘British Glass’ Galerie Rob van den Doel, The Hague, Holland.
	Della Tinsley and Bob Crooks, Cecilia Colman Gallery, London
1993	‘British Glass’ Crafts Council Gallery, London.
	Christies Contemporary Art, London.
1994	‘British Glass’ Galerie L, Hamburg, Germany.
1995	‘Influences of the Natural World’ Crafts Council, London.
1996	‘Blowing Hot and Cold’ The Oxford Gallery, Oxford. Bob Crooks and Stewart Hearn, Cecilia Colman Gallery, London.
1997	Eton Applied Arts, Eton, Berkshire.
1998	‘A Celebration of Glass’ CAA, London
	‘Venice Aperto Vetro’ Venice, Italy.
1999	‘British Glass’ Lane Crawford, Hong Kong.
	‘New Glass Economy’ Shang-Hi, China.
2000	‘Contemporary Decorative Arts’ Sotheby’s, London.
	‘Spring Fever’ Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
	‘Master and Pupil’ Oxford Gallery, Oxford.
	SOFA — Chicago, with Contemporary Applied Arts, Chicago, USA.
2001	‘Home Sweet Home’ Touring Exhibition with the British Council
	Scandinavia —2001 and Australia —2002.
	Gallery Gronlund, Copenhagen, Denmark.
	SOFA —New York, with CAA, including demonstration at Urban Glass, New York, USA.
	‘Celebration of Glass’ Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire.
	SOFA — Chicago, with CAA, USA.
	‘Thirteen Hands’ touring exhibition around the highlands of Scotland.
2002	‘9 x 9’ Art Glass Gallery, London.
	SOFA — New York, with CAA. New York, USA.
	The White Gallery, Brighton, East Sussex.
	‘In Search of Light’ Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire.
	SOFA –Chicago with CAA. USA
	‘All Set For Christmas’ Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
2003	‘Nine Colourways’ Blackwell, Cumbria.
	SOFA –Chicago with CAA. USA
2004	Collect – London with CAA
	‘Spring Glass’ Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.
	‘Mark of the Maker’ Eton Applied Arts, Eton.
	‘British Glass Biennale’ Ruskin Glass Centre.
2005	Collect – London with Grace Barrand.
	Dan Klein @ The Daniel Katz Gallery, London.
	‘Collectable’ The Grace Barrand Design Centre, Surrey.
	‘Flower Power’ The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.
	‘Clear Vision’ Gallery Top, Derbyshire.
	‘Design Collection’ The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.
	‘21st Anniversary Exhibition’ Candover Gallery, Winchester.
	‘Winter Exhibition’ Cowdy Glass Gallery, Gloucestershire.
2006	‘Select’ The Grace Barrand Design Centre, London.
	‘My Collection’ Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
	‘Coburg Glass Prize’ Coburg, Germany.
	‘Artists & Alchemists’ Colour & Chemistry, Sherborne House, Dorset.
	British Glass Biennale 2006, Ruskin Glass Centre.
COMMISSIONS AND AWARDS
1989	Prize winners Goblets, ‘First Impressions’ Anglia Television.
1989	Prize winners Vases, ‘First Impressions’ Anglia Television.
	Exclusive range of ‘Limited Edition’ Centrepieces for the Dutch equivalent of Habitat.
1990	Three exclusive tableware ranges for The Art Loft Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan and USA.
1991	Crafts Council ‘Setting up Grant’
1994	Lighting for Courtney and Barrow, -Wine Bar, City of London.
	Design and produce an exclusive range of glassware for the Crafts Council at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
1994	Design and produce a commemorative Wine Glass for Casa Europea, Antwerp, Belgium.
1995	Best New Product Award, Top Drawer. London.
	Design and produce an exclusive tableware range for Bertorelli’s restaurant, London.
	Design and produce the Goodman and Garret Awards for ABSA.
1996	Design and produce the ISDD Awards.
	Design and produce the ABSA Awards.
1998-99	Design and produce exclusive range of tableware for Dan Burt, for homes in both London and USA.
1999	Joint commission with Stewart Hearn to produce six unique pieces for the Standard Life Investments building, Edinburgh.
	Also individual commission to make large glass commemorative plaque for Standard Life.
2000-02	Joint Commission with Stewart Hearn to produce a substantial range of production and unique pieces for the UK headquarters of Anglo-American.
2001	To create seven new large-scale unique pieces for cruise liner —Voyager III. Adventurer of the Seas.
2002	To create a further large scale unique piece for —Voyager IV. Navigator of the Seas.
	Collaboration with Bruce Oldfield on his new "House Couture" Collection.
	Design and create a series of Golf Trophies.
2003	To produce a large scale unique piece for cruise liner Cunard – The Queen Victoria.
	Design and produce six large-scale pieces for Private residence in Jeddah.
	Two large scale unique pieces for the Four Season Hotel, Budapest.
2004	2004 Design and produce a large-scale centre piece for the Marriott Hotel, West India Quays, London.
	Design & Produce a series of unique glasses for the Cotswold Hotel, Gloucestershire.
2005	To design & make two large scale unique pieces for cruise liner P&O – Arcaidia.
	Design and create two installations for cruise liner – Saga Ruby
	Design and produce Fourteen Awards for the Look Ahead Housing and Care.
	To create two large scale suspended pieces for the head office of Tempest Radford, London.
2006	Design & produce five large scale pieces for Four Seasons Hotel Barabados.
	Design and create Fourteen Awards for Look Ahead Housing and Care.

COLLECTIONS
Private Collections, UK and abroad.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Crafts Council Collection, London.
Fitzwilliam Collection, Cambridge.
British Council Collection, London.
Cowdy Gallery Contemporary Glass Collection, Gloucestershire.
Standard Life (Art Collection) Edinburgh.
Anglo-American (Art Collection) London.
Dan Klein Associates Collection. London.
The Sainsbury Collection. London.
Mobile Museum, Alabama, USA.
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool.
Manchester Metropolitan University, (Special Collections).
Coburg Museum, Germany.
National Museums Of Scotland.
Broadfield House Glass Museum, Stourbridge.

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