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Luminous Glass “Jellyfish” Sculptures Dripping with Sinuous Tentacles

By Kelly Richman-Abdou on August 10, 2017

Based in beautiful Tuscany, Italian artist Daniela Forti employs a unique glass-fusion technique to delicately craft luminous works of art. Referred to as “sculpture installations,” each piece showcases the artist's innovative methods and interest in light. While this inventive approach to the age-old process of glass-working is evident in her entire oeuvre, it is most beautifully apparent in her ongoing series of luminous glass jellyfish sculptures.

Each table-like piece captures the graceful fluidity and floating nature of the aquatic animals. Unlike the 4-legged construction of a traditional table, Forti's jellyfish sculptures employ a network of tangled tentacles as structural support. Seemingly dripping from the surface of the table, these tentacles elegantly combine everyday function with experimental art—a key aspect of Forti's practice.

To create each unique work of art, Forti meticulously employs a unique method of glassworking that blends glass with crystal. Called glassfusion, this process culminates in the one-of-a-kind glass formations characteristic of Forti's jellyfish. “Glass-fusion fundamentally means to construct new glass from a solid state, assembling various piece which, upon contact with heat varying from 800 to 850°C, become so fluid as to profoundly meld themselves in an irreversible manner,” she explains on her website. “The cooling process is quite slow in order to permit total reorganization and the recuperation of the molecular stability that the materials possessed before being heated.” It is this combination of creativity with unwavering patience that enables Forti to fabricate exquisite and ethereal works of art.