An artist from New Zealand has completely updated the look of the plastic fruits that have been used for years by grandmothers and moms to decorate their kitchens. Devyn Ormsby of Devon Made Glass, has created art pieces that are simple yet captivating, and deserve to be center stage, not thrown into a bowl.
Devyn was inspired by the vintage fruit found in antique stores and decided to make a more modern version. After thinking over the idea for a while, she finally began working on the collection in her glass casting studio. Devyn told us, “It’s usually an introspective process for me where I think on an idea for a long time. If it doesn’t leave my thoughts it means I have to try to make it in real life to get it out of my head.” Devyn was very satisfied that the glass fruit perfectly replicated her initial idea. She explained that art pieces do not always meet the expectations in her head, so when a project actually does, like the glass fruit, she is extremely appreciative.
The bananas, lemons, pears, and mandarins of Devon Made Glass are crafted through a careful creation process to give them their perfect, life-like texture. As described on her website, she starts by making a wax mold of the fruit, and on top of that places a contour model, which is made of materials that will not melt in the high temperatures of a kiln. The wax within the contour model is removed, and solid glass is put inside. This solid glass melts once fired in the kiln. The contour mold is removed after baking to reveal the beautiful colored glass underneath. After some finishing touches, the pieces are ready to be sold.
Do you ever have difficulties during the process?
“Glass always keeps you on your toes. Sometimes it doesn’t fill properly or the mould splits or you get specks of shit in the glass. But glass never just breaks. There will be something you’ve fucked up along the way. Which you then have to back track all of the steps and try to figure out what it was that you unknowingly changed.”
“Once I had a big order where all my moulds were bursting when I was steaming out the wax. It drove me crazy trying to figure out why. Turns out, I had changed the brand of black rubbish bags I usually use to cover the moulds when steaming. It was a heavier duty one, which meant it was getting too hot too fast. Once I changed back to the old budget brand they steamed just fine. It is a constant learning process that you personalise and tweak to suit your specific way of working, studio space and kiln.”
The fruits come in clear and an array of translucent pastels. They offer a beautifully modern touch to any room. They also look fantastic strewn about the floor if that’s what you’re into.
Devyn said that she doesn’t have any plans to add other fruits to the collection. Her view is that the fruit series is a completed project. She still works full-time casting the fruits to keep up inventory, but she would like to release new art soon. She confessed, “I am pretty set on not being pigeonholed as the glass fruit girl. In saying that I also need to get my next works out there.”
