Crystal art pieces

Design

Milan Sipek

Crystal Dragon Statue · 飞龙在天 Flying Dragon: It took nearly 18 months to finalize this project from start to finish. Created out of a number of handmade crystal components, this crystal dragon is nearly 1.3 m long with a silver amber body and flowing crystal detail work. We also made a short documentary on the work process at our Sipek Crystal glass studio.

Crystal Koi Fish Statue: A large freestanding crystal sculpture. All crystal components are hand made at our glass studio in the Czech Republic and were mounted to an ultra clear glass panel frame by Milan and his crew in Shanghai.

"Breather" wine decanter: This elegant wine decanter's design is inspired by ancient ceramic wine vessels. It comes in two forms: a rocking version that swivels around and a legged version.

Limited edition designs ("brass knuckles"): Milan Sipek also created a number of other limited concepts, such as the "brass knuckles", one for men and one for the ladies.

In Eastern culture, the dragon is a revered and mystical creature often depicted in art and sculpture. However, few historical artworks have truly captured the essence of the dragon as a symbol of power, authority, and honor. It takes an exceptional artist to create a dragon sculpture that exudes the grandeur and awe-inspiring presence the creature deserves. Enter Milan Sipek, a Czech crystal artist, who collaborates with the world's premier practitioners of the hand-blown crystal technique.

His masterpiece, "The Crystal Dragon," perfectly embodies the majesty of the dragon in a medium that is as beautiful as it is challenging to work with. Hand-blown Czech crystal is a national treasure, known for its clarity, high refraction, and brightness. The process involves heating the crystal to a liquid state at a scorching 1300 degrees Celsius and shaping it within a matter of minutes. Any longer and the crystal will crack due to cooling.

The time and temperature constraints make hand-blown crystal a demanding medium, requiring precise and flawless execution in the creation of large-scale sculptures. Milan Sipek is one of the few artists in the world who regularly works with and understands this medium and technique, and his "Crystal Dragon" is a testament to his exceptional skills and artistic vision.

This Large crystal sculpture was created by Czech crystal artist Milan Sipek. The work has been titled “an instant”, as the fish seems to frozen in time and might vanish at any moment with a quick whip of the tail!

The entire piece is made in one session which is what makes it most impressive to me... which means there is no other materials used besides the crystal glass. We start by blowing a very large bubble of crystal glass which we then slowly open up like a flower. This requires a repeated process of reheating and hand shaping until the right size and shape of the base plate is created.

Our glass master then starts working on the little fish while his assistants continue to reheat the plate to keep the temperature constant. The little fish are a testament to the skills of our Glass Master. He shapes the body with a variety of custom made brass tools made especially for this design. The delicate fins are added on by shaping hot molten glass using hand tools and decades of experience.

As the glass Master completes each fish they are mounted onto the plate which is continually kept at high temperature until all components have been added. The entire piece is then carefully knocked off the blow pipe and carried over to the cooling ovens which will slowly cool the piece down over a period of two days. Provided nothing has cracked or broken up until this point the cold cutting shop puts on the finishing touches by polishing away the rough edges of blow pipe connection point.

At the end, the entire process will have taken at least 5 days, and involved a team of at least 7 people to complete.