London Glassblowing — product concept
Roulette
£12,000
Originally created for London Glassblowing’s 40th anniversary, Roulette is the first and only glass gun Layne Rowe has ever made. In glass, a potentially harmful object becomes something beautiful and fragile.
Ten years on, Layne revisited the work, adding a stand and lampworked daisies that emerge from the barrel as a symbol of peace.
Delivery & collection
Delivery or collection from Bermondsey Street, arranged with the gallery team after purchase.
A familiar object, transformed by the material.
Glass is a seductive and vulnerable material, and Roulette puts it to work. Rendering a weapon in glass transmutes a potentially harmful object into a beautifully fragile art form, and the piece advocates an alternative to the rage and conflict that fill our world. The stylised form is hand-sculpted with precision, acknowledging the craft in weaponry even as it disarms it.
A decade after its first showing, Layne returned to the work. The addition of a stand, and of strategically placed lampworked daisies emerging from the barrel, gives Roulette a new presence and a second chapter in its story.
The material
Glass holds light, colour and precision, yet it can be broken in an instant. Roulette uses that tension deliberately: the form of a weapon, rendered in a material that asks to be handled with care.
The making
Each element was hot formed, blown and sculpted at the furnace, as close as possible to its final shape and size, before being cold worked, cut and polished to achieve its accuracy. The daisies are lampworked, shaped from glass in a torch flame, a technique suited to fine and delicate detail. The complexity of the piece means it will remain unique and cannot be commissioned.
The artist
Layne Rowe’s journey in glass began in the 1990s, during his 3D design degree at the University of Central Lancashire, and he has worked alongside Peter Layton at London Glassblowing for some 30 years. His work has been exhibited widely, notably in the V&A’s Power of Making and at Collect every year since 2013; in 2014 he showed alongside Grayson Perry and Alexander McQueen in Subversive Design.
More work by Layne RoweAbout the artwork
Hot-sculpted, cut and polished glass. H16.5 × W34 × D8cm. Gallery reference LRRG01.
Viewing, delivery & returns
See the work in person at the gallery on Bermondsey Street before or after purchase. Delivery, collection and returns are arranged with the gallery team.
Caring for your glass
Dust with a soft, dry cloth, or one lightly dampened with water; avoid abrasive cleaners. Display on a stable surface, away from edges and direct heat sources.