Heike Brachlow

Heike Brachlow was born in Munich, Germany in 1970 and currently lives and works in England. She received her BA in glass 2004 from the University of Wolverhampton, her MA in 2006 and her PhD in 2012 from the Royal College of Art in London. Heike primarily works as a self-employed artist from her studio in England, and as an educator and lecturer, teaching at the Royal College of Art and institutions such as the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass and Pilchuck Glass School. Her work is represented in several museum collections including the European Museum of Modern Glass (Art Collection of the Veste Coburg), the National Museum Scotland, Glasmuseum Hentrich, and the Tacoma Museum of Glass.

Brachlow’s designs are developed during the making process. Her new sculptures are based on a concept called “D-form”, a three-dimensional form created by joining the edges of two flat shapes with the same perimeter length. Results are wildly different depending on at which point the shapes are joined. The forms, when transformed into glass solids, display many characteristics of transparent color: variations in hue and value depending on the form as well as changes in different types of illumination depending on the composition of the glass. The continuing aim is an exploration of the interaction of color, form and light in glass solids. Her work reflects Heike’s attraction to movement and transformation, both in color and design.