Baldwin & Guggisberg
Baldwin & Guggisberg Biography
Monica and Philip met in Sweden forty-two years ago where each of them had gone to learn the craft of blowing glass. She from Bern, in Switzerland, he from New York. Philip had a background in experiential education, Outward Bound, and nearly ten years of running his own program based in Boston. Monica, after completing a formal apprenticeship in lampworking and opening her own studio, decided what she really wanted was blown glass at the end of a blowpipe.
In Sweden the pair had some lucky breaks: finding each other on the one hand and getting to be the first assistants for the newly opened studio of Orrefors master Wilke Adolfsson and Kosta artist/designer Ann Wolff. That opportunity put them on a fast track to learning the best of the basics. After little over two years they moved to Switzerland and set up their own hotshop in a small idyllic village north of Lausanne. Although flying in no small part by the seat of their pants, they quickly established a rigorous line of tabletop free-blown glassware and began to experiment with one-off unique pieces.
Following what was already a pattern of nomadic tendencies, they left their Swiss idyll after twenty years and moved to Paris, into a new and equally beautiful setting, this time urban, in an old railway viaduct that had been turned into a city park (and was incidentally the inspiration for New York's Highline). Here followed fifteen years of urban life and practice with a growing repertoire of sculptural innovations. The sphere series began here, the three-layered color overlays and deep batutto cutting was greatly expanded, and most important of all, the boat series. The first frame pieces also started in Paris, drawing directly from the core ideas and forms of the boats. Their nomadism became increasingly entwined with their art, an autobiographical touch, even as it was also increasingly connected to the larger story of humanity.
The move to Wales six years ago was yet another act of folly hard to explain, even to themselves, but clearly a return to rural environs was at the root. This latest chapter in their journey has brought them their most challenging projects, starting with a major show at Edinburgh’s Gallery TEN using St. Mary's Cathedral as the venue, which led to the invitation to celebrate the 100th centenary at Canterbury with a series of installations, a singular honor, and a most daunting challenge. Canterbury became a portal to a deeper expression, now demonstrated through Walking in the Void, an exhibition which takes the artists to new places of discovery.
Their work is found in over forty museums and public installations, collections worldwide, ten books, and several awards, including the prestigious Grand Prix des Arts Appliqués in Switzerland, and the Venice Glass Prize.
Baldwin & Guggisberg Description
Philip Baldwin & Monica Guggisberg (b. 1947, USA, 1955, Switzerland)
Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg have been working as a team for over forty years. Theirs is a journey of continual evolution rooted in blown glass and Italian cutting techniques, centered on their unique innovations in cold working over the last twenty-five years. From a studio which began around design in the early 1980s, they have become artists using glass as the central element in stories about civilization, the quirks of human character, and humanity's journeys. All the while remaining dedicated to beauty in form, shape, and color.
Baldwin & Guggisberg Statement
“Guggisberg and Baldwin have laid a new avenue. By joining Italian coldworking to the Swedish overlay, they have embarked upon an innovative sequence of experimentation and research not only on surfaces, but also on color and the interplay of color and texture through surface treatment. These explorations have increasingly drawn them to probe the expressive fields of textural elements. Initially soft and tactile, with the new strong angles, facets and deep cuts, the surface itself takes on a kind of fourth dimension, something sculptural that moves beyond the limits set by height, width, and volume.”
A quote from Louise Berndt, writing in "Battuto 2002: Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg"
We see our involvement in glass essentially as the way we live our lives. The work done, the statements achieved in the result, the daily process of fulfilling what we do, all weave together in a way of life. It has always felt to us that that is what an artist is. It is about the "is" not the "does". Once upon a time we made tabletop glassware: Clean simple designs made in repetition intended as good design, suited for functional use. We were incredibly proud of that and still are. Individual "unique" objects rather quickly joined the tabletop, and bit by bit we moved into a more singular and slightly abstract direction. This was a slow process, involving the constant mastery of new techniques hot and cold, and the expansion of our vision to emphasize the meaning behind both the making and the result. The process trumps the result, but we are only ever left with the result! And slowly but surely, we come to realize that our engagement with our métier is a beautiful conversation, an evolving story in which the subject matter roams ever more freely. We do not arrive at a destination. Unless the destination is understood as the journey. It is a bit like kayaking down a new river: you just don't know what's waiting around the bend. And thus, you are in a thrilling encounter, as you round the bend and discover what awaits. These intense repeating moments of "now" are what we live for, while we remain steadfast in our love of material and honoring it through manual manipulation, over and over again, message building upon message, insight upon insight. Or so we dare to hope.
Most recently, in the last three or four years, our work has taken us into an exploration of the existential dilemmas facing our global civilization, while remaining determined to express these challenges with beauty and an open mind, reverential of the natural world, and our great good fortune. We have been blessed with fascinating opportunities to express these ideas, at Canterbury Cathedral in 2018 for the 100th centenary of the end of the First World War Under an Equal Sky, and now, over the past ten months (until May 30th) at the Ebeltoft Glasmuseum in Denmark, Walking in the Void.
Baldwin & Guggisberg Resumé
Solo and Group Exhibitions:
(s) indicates a solo show
(cat.) indicates there was a catalogue produced for the exhibition
2022 50th Glass International Exhibition, HABATAT
2020 Generations of Genius of Glass, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
2019 SOFA, Bender Gallery
‘You, Me and the Rest of Us’, Galleri Glas, Stockholm
BRAFA, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Baldwin & Guggisberg, Schiepers Gallery, Hasselt
2018 ‘Under an Equal Sky’, Canterbury Cathedral (i, cat.)
SOFA, Bender Gallery
Glass as Material, Melissa Morgan Fine Art
Homo Faber
Tresor, Taste Contemporary
BRAFA, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Design / Miami Basel, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Collect, Vessel Gallery
Art Aspen, Montague Gallery & Raven Gallery
2017 Montague Gallery (s)
BRAFA, Galerie Marc Heiremans
'A Festival of Glass', Etienne Gallery
'Thinking in Glass', Sandra Ainsley Gallery
Design Miami/Basel, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Tresor Contemporary Craft, TASTE
Installation at Palazzo Loredan, Glass in Venice Award - The Venice Glass Week (i)
'Blown.Cut.Glass', Sanske Galerie (s)
SOFA, Bender Gallery
The Salon Art + Design, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Collect, Vessel Gallery
2016 Art Palm Beach, Bender Gallery
Artgenève, TASTE contemporary craft
Life is Not a Beach, Alexander Tutsek Foundation
BRAFA, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Artmonte-carlo, TASTE contemporary craft
Habatat International, Habatat Galleries
Design Miami/Basel, Galerie Marc Heiremans
The Cathedral Collection, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (s, cat.)
35th Anniversary Show, Etienne Gallery
Art Toronto, Sandra Ainsley Gallery
SOFA, Bender Gallery
The Salon Art + Design, Galerie Marc Heiremans
PAN Amsterdam, Etienne Gallery
2015 New Work, Etienne Gallery (s)
BRAFA Bruxelles, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Artgenève, TASTE contemporary craft
Design Miami / Art Basel, Galerie Marc Heiremans
The International Show, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Art Toronto, Sandra Ainsley Gallery
SOFA, Bender Gallery
PAN, Etienne Gallery
2014 Amphores Boats and Journeys: New Work, Sandra Ainsley Gallery (s)
PAN Amsterdam, with Etienne Gallery
2013 Suspended Mobility, David Richard Gallery (s)
SOFA, Chicago, David Richard Gallery
PAN Amsterdam, Etienne Gallery
Salon Révélations, Grand Palais, Paris
BRAFA Bruxelles, Galerie Marc Heiremans
Sanske Gallery, Zürich (s)
2012 "Au delà du verre / Beyond Glass", Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt (s, cat.)
SOFA, Chicago, with David Richard Gallery
"Au-delà du verre / Beyond Glass", Oisterwijk, Etienne Gallery (s, cat.)
BRAFA Bruxelles, Galerie Marc Heiremans
2011 "Au-delà du verre / Beyond Glass", Geneva, Musée Ariana (s, cat.)
SOFA, Chicago, with David Richard Contemporary
Galerie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Basel
Publication of new book “L'Arche de Verre" by Revue de la ceramique et du verre, Paris France
"Vessel on Vessel", Pismo Gallery, Aspen CO
Galerie Lafôret, Verbier
2010 SOFA, Chicago, David Richard Contemporary
SOFA West, Santa Fé, David Richard Contemporary
London, Vessel Gallery at TG
Zürich, Sanske Galerie (s)
Bruxelles, BRAFA, Marc Heiremans Galerie
2009 Bruxelles, Marc Heiremans Galerie (s)
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art, European Design since 1985 (cat.)
Milano, Euroluce with designs for Venini
London, Collect, Vessel Gallery
Oisterwijk, Oisterwijk Sculptuur, Etienne Gallery (cat.)
Oisterwijk, Etienne Gallery (s)
Paris, Galerie Hélène Porée, (s)
2008 Oisterwiijk NL, Oisterwiijk Sculptuur, EvdDoel (cat.)
Chicago, Habatat Galleries (s)
European Glass Context. DK (cat.)
Paris, 6 Mandel (s)
London, Vessel Gallery (s)
Zurich, CH, Sanske Galerie (s)
2007 Toronto, Sandra Ainsley Gallery (s)
Oisterwiijk NL, Oisterwiijk sculptur, EvdDoel (cat.)
Milano, Euroluce with new designs for Venini
Tampa, FL, Baisden Gallery (s)
2006 Oisterwijk, NL. EvdDoel, 25th Anniversary Exhibition. (s)
Oisterwiijk NL, Oisterwiijk sculptur, EvdDoel (cat.)
Morat, Vieux Manoir (s)
Charlotte, NC, McColl Center for the Arts (s)
2005 Zürich, CH, Sanske Galerie (s)
Cleveland, OH, Tom Riley Galleries (s)
Oisterwiijk NL, Oisterwiijk sculptur, EvdDoel (cat.)
2004 Sunderland UK, "Cirque de Sphères" National Glasscenter (s, cat.)
Venezia, Vetri, Nel mondo. Oggi, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (cat.)
Leusden NL, "Cirque de Sphères" het Koopmanshuis,EvdDoel (s, cat.)
Lausanne, "Cirque de Sphères”, Mudac (s, cat.)
Oisterwiijk NL, Oisterwiijk sculptuur, EvdDoel (cat.)
Chicago, Habatat (s)
Cornelus, NC, Christa Faut Gallery (s)
Milano, Salone del Mobile avec VENINI
Royal Oak, MI, Annual Invitational, Habatat Galleries, (cat.)
Aspen Colorado, Pismo Gallery (s)
2003 Toronto, Sandra Ainsley Gallery (s)
Zürich, Sanske Galerie (s)
Oisterwiijk, NL, Oisterwiijk sculptuur, EvdDoel (cat.)
Tampa, Baisden Gallery (s)
Den Haag, Etienne & van den Doel (s)
Royal Oak MI, Annual Invitational, Habatat Galleries (cat.)
2002 Ebeltoft, D, Battuto 2002, Ebeltoft Glasmuseum (s, cat.)
Kijkduin, NL, Boulevard des Sculptures, (cat.)
New York, Barry Friedman Gallery (s)
Öland, Borgholm Castle, “Global Art Glass” (cat.)
Aosta, Glass Way, Museo Archeologico (cat.)
The Rachael Collection, Aspen (s)
Louisville, Glassworks Gallery, KY
2001 Tel Aviv, Eretz Israel Museum (s, cat.)
Paris, Eclat du Verre (s)
Bejing and Shanghai, Habatat Galleries (cat.)
Pontiac, Annual Invitational, Habatat Galleries (cat.)
Kijkduin, NL, Boulevard des Sculptures (cat.)
Chicago, Portia Gallery (s, cat.)
Den Haag, Etienne & van den Doel (s)
Beaver Creek, Pismo (s)
2000 Kentucky, “Millenium Glass”, Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation (cat.)
Pontiac, Millenium Exhibition, Habatat Galleries (cat.)
Cincinnati, Marta Hewitt Gallery (s)
Zulte, Belgium, Goed Werk Gallery (s)
Atlanta, Fay Gold Gallery (s)
1999 Chicago, Gallery Portia (s, cat.)
Den Haag, Gallery Rob van den Doel (s)
Öland, Borgholm Castle, “Global Art Glass in Sweden 1999” (cat.)
Zürich, Sanske Gallery (s)
1998 Sinzheim, Galerie B (s)
Kunsthalle, Bern, “We Never Promised You A Rose Garden”
Venezia, Galleria San Nicolò, “Making Connections” (s)
Venezia, “ Venezia Aperto Vetro II” (cat.)
Lausanne, Espace Arlaud, “ In Search of Clear Lines” (s)
Sars Poteries, Musée Atelier du Verre Sars Poteries (s)
New York, Barry Friedman Gallery, "In Search of Clear Lines" (s)
1997 Zürich, Museum Bellerive (s)
Den Haag, Gallery Rob van den Doel (s)
Pontiac, "25th Annual International Invitational", Habatat Galleries (cat.)
London, Stair & Company
Avenches, Les Galeries du Château (s)
Paris, Galerie l'Eclat du Verre (s, cat.)
1996 Hamburg, Gallery L (s)
Pontiac, “24th Annual International Invitational”, Habatat Galleries (cat.)
Hergiswil Glasi (s)
Venezia, Galleria San Nicolò (s, cat.)
Venezia, "Venezia Aperto Vetro" (cat.)
München, Galerie Waldrich (s)
1995 Zürich, Sanske Galerie, “Murano-Nonfoux, collaboration with Lino Tagliapietra”
Laren, NL, Singer Museum, with Gallery Rob van den Doel (s)
Venezia, “A Venitian Love Affair”, (New Glass a Venezia), Galleria Marina Barovier (cat.)
Martigny, “Venitian Tendencies”, Fondation Louis Moret (s)
Genève, Baldwin/Guggisberg, Centre des Arts Appliqués(s)
1994 La Robellaz, Gallery Garance (s)
Venezia, Zitelle, “Trasparenze d'Arte” (cat.)
Nonfoux, “Murano-Nonfoux, collaboration with Lino Tagliapietra”, video, filmed and edited by Alex Erik Pfingsttag
1993 Den Haag, Galerie Rob van den Doel (s)
Zürich, Rennweg Galerie (s)
Bremen, Kito (Monica Borgward)
1991 Bruxelles, Galerie Transparence, with Floris Meydam
Lausanne, Musée des arts décoratifs (s, cat.)
Zürich, Maya Behn Gallery (s)
Düsseldorf, Galerie Ingrid Mensendiek (s)
1990 Zürich, Maya Behn (s)
1989 New York, New Glass Gallery (s)
Lausanne, Musée des arts décoratifs, “Autour de la table”, traveling exhibition : Zürich, Museum für Gestaltung, Leuven, Museum Van Humbeeck-Piron (cat.)
Frankfurt a.M., Galerie Gottschalk-Betz (s)
Genève, Galerie Trois (s)
Lausanne, Musée des Arts décoratifs, “Expression en verre II”, Acquisitions 1987-1989 (cat.)
1988 Kanazawa, Messegelände, “The International Exhibition of Glass Craft 1988” (cat.)
Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, “World Glass Now '88”, traveling exhibition : Shimonoseki, Shimonoseki City Art Museum; Tokyo, Daimaru Grand Hall; Gifu, The Museum of Fine Arts; Osaka, Daimaru Museum (cat.)
Zürich, Margrith v. Castelberg-Stutz (s)
Lausanne, Midi-Pile (s)
1987 Hamburg and Berlin, Rosenthal Studio-Haus (s)
Arnheim, NL, Galerie Arti-Choque (s)
1986 Genève, Galerie Trois (s)
Köln, Glasgalerie (s)
Lausanne, Musée des arts décoratifs, “Expressions en verre 1'200 sculptures contemporaines”, Europe, USA, Japon (cat.)
Liège, Générale de Banque, “Contemporary Western European Sculptures in Crystal and Glass” (cat.)
Zürich, Schweizer Heimatwerk, “Schweizer Glas '86”
1985 Coburg, Kunstsammlungen der Veste, “Zweiter Coburger Glaspreis für moderne Glasgestaltung in Europa” (cat.)
Horgen, Galerie Heidi Schneider, “Glaskünstlerinnen aus Europa” (only M.G.)
Luzern, Glas-Galerie (s)
München, Kunst in Glas GmbH with Wilke Adolfsson
Paris, Galerie Quartz, with W. Adolfsson and M.Bouchard
Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, “L'art du verre, Actualité Internationale”
Stuttgart, Kunsthaus Schaller (s)
1984 Boston/MA, David Bernstein Gallery (s)
Bremen, Galerie Monica Trüjen (s)
Düsseldorf, Galerie Ingrid Mensendiek (s)
Genève, Galerie Kara (s)
Luzern, Kornschütte, “Skulpturen in Glas, Situation 1984”,Glas-Galerie (cat.)
Miami/FL, Center for the Fine Arts, "Glass that Works" (cat.)
Saint-Emilion, Syndicat d'initiative, “Art Verre Vin”
Strasbourg, Galerie Paskine de Gignoux, "Verre contemporain en Europe" (cat.)
1983 Alkmaar, Galerie Het Glashuis
Bern, Käfigturm, “Vitrine 83”
Lausanne, Château de Renens (s)
München, Galerie Nordend (s)
Winterthur, Gewerbemuseum, “Schweizer Handglashütten heute”
Zürich, Schweizer Heimatwerk, “Schweizer Glaskunst”
Zürich, Galerie Margrith v. Castelberg-Stutz (s)
1982 Lausanne, Galerie Bellefontaine, "European Studio Glass '82” (cat.)
Nonfoux, Verrerie de Nonfoux (s)
Solo Museum Exhibitions
2012 'Au delà du verre', Museum für angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt (cat.)
2011 'Au delà du verre', Musée Ariana, Geneva (cat.)
2004 'Cirque de Spheres', Mudac Museum, Lausanne (cat.)
2002 'Battuto 2002', Ebeltoft Glasmuseum, Ebeltoft, Denmark (cat.)
2001 Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel (cat.)
Museum Collections:
Museum of Arts & Design, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Musée Ariana, Genève
Museum Bellerive, Zürich
Berner Design Stiftung. Kantonale Sammlung angewandte Kunst, Bern
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA
Castello Forzesco, Milano
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Die Neue Sammlung, München
Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv
Ernsting Stiftung Alter Hof, Coesfeld-Lette
Fond Cantonal d'art contemporain, Genève
Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
Glasmuseum Ebeltoft
Glasmuseum Hentrich, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Museo del Vetro di Murano
Musée du Verre, Sars Poteries
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris
Mudac, Mausanne (musée du design et d'arts appliqués contemporains)
Museo del Vetro, Murano
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Berlin
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Hamburg
Palm Springs Art Museum
Swiss National Collection of Applied Art
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Installations
Installations in numerous public and private spaces across Europe and USA.
Design Collaborations
Best & Lloyd, London
Hergiswil Glas, Hergiswil, Switzerland
Nestlé, Vevey
Nouvelstudio, Mexico City
Rosenthal Glas & Porzellan AG, Selb
Steuben Glass, Corning/NY, USA
Venini, Venice
Public Collections
Alexander Tutsek Stiftung, München; American Craft Museum, New York; Berner Design Stiftung; Carnegie Museum of Art, PA; Chrysler Museum; Norfolk VA; Corning Museum of Glass, Corning; Denver Art Museum; Die Neue Sammlung, München; Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv; Ernsting Stiftung Alter Hof, Coesfeld-Lette; Fond Cantonal de Beaux Arts, Lausanne; Fond Cantonal de Décoration, Genève; Gewerbemuseum Winterthur; Glasmuseum Ebeltoft; Glasmuseum Hentrich, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; IMA, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg; Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile Alabama; Mudac, Lausanne; Musée Ariana, Genève; Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris; Musée du Verre, Sars Poteries; Museo del vetro Murano; Museum Bellerive, Zürich; Museum für Kunsthandwerk Berlin; Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Hamburg; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA; Palm Springs Art Museum; Swiss National Collection of Applied Art; The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Selected Publications
In Search of Clear Lines, Benteli Verlag, Bern, 1998, 178 pages
Hot Glass Cold Glass, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, 2001, 84 pages
Battuto 2002, Ebeltoft Glass Museum, 2002, 60 pages
Circus of Spheres, Mudac, 5 Continents, 2004, 88 pages
L’Arche de Verre, Ceramique et Verre, 2011, 96 pages
Au delà du Verre/Beyond Glass, 5 Continents, 2011, 192 pages
Awards
Bavarian State Prize
Grand Prix des Arts Appliqués, Lausanne
Grants
Commission for Applied Art, Canton of Bern
Federal Commission for Applied Arts
Ikea Foundation
National Endowment of the Arts
