CGS glass discovery day at the V&A

Four speakers standing in front of large overhead screen for their presentations.

Events | 18-12-2025

CGS Chair Sarah Brown reviews an interesting and informative gathering at this top London museum.

What a day it was on Friday 5 December 2025! Over 100 people met at the Hochauser Auditorium at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London, for the Contemporary Glass Society’s ‘Narratives in Glass: An Artist’s Perspective’ event, hearing from four incredible speakers who use storytelling in many different ways within their work.

Sarah Brown and Helen Slater Stokes with glass chandelier in background by Dale Chihuly. — Sarah Brown (left) and Helen Slater Stokes with Dale Chihuly’s glass chandelier in the background at the V&A Museum.

The V&A’s Reino Liefkes, Senior Curator, Ceramics and Glass, and Kate Devine, Assistant Curator, kindly invited us to celebrate all things glass in an inspiring day of talks from Jeff Zimmer, Karen Browning, Moonju Suh and James Maskrey. Each spoke about the underlying themes that run through their work, finding their voice within their practice, how they became captivated by glass as a medium, and their own perspectives of life and being an artist today.

In addition, CGS Administrator Dr Helen Slater Stokes and I described our glass practices and ways of working with narrative. Katharine Coleman MBE shared a celebration of the work of Nancy Sutcliffe, who sadly passed away this year. She was a brilliant glass engraver with her unique style and ideas and also featured spectacular narratives within her work. It was a beautiful tribute and we learned a lot about her life and adventures. She will be greatly missed.

Reino Liefkes, senior curator of glass and ceramics at the V&A, showing visitors the museum's glass collection. — Reino Liefkes presenting the Museum’s glass collection to CGS members as part of the event.

Within the day’s programme we also had time to network over coffee and lunch, as well as over a few drinks at the pub afterwards. However, before we went to the pub there was an exciting opportunity to have tours of the V&A glass collection, led by Reino. He shared his favourite pieces, highlighting important works that have changed glassmaking over the years, and pointed out works by many contemporary artists, including James Maskrey, Jeff Zimmer, and a new acquisition, displayed for the first time that week, from Karen Browning and Jon Lewis.

A view across the glass collection cabinets at the V&A Museum. — The V&A’s glass collection holds a diverse array of glass artworks.

The day was filled with a buzz of excitement as we heard from the speakers, viewed the collections, met old friends and made new ones.

We can’t wait for the events coming up in 2026, where we will continue to foster connections in our community and share more about the many practices, ideas and processes within glass.

Main image: The four speakers, Jeff Zimmer, Karen Browning, Moonju Suh and James Maskrey. Photos: Courtesy of Sarah Brown.

18-12-2025