In most excellent company of eleven other makers, which are part of the Closing the Loop group. This group was started by Applied Arts Scotland in early 2020 after the Creative Informatics data for greener making Lab #10 event (curated by yours truly) and which considered how environmental data is affecting making practices and the materials used in contemporary craft. It coincided with the Think Plastic: Materials and Making exhibition in the John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The group met online monthly during the pandemic and proved a valuable exchange for ideas, discussion and knowledge about the circular economy. The circular economy model has been the red thread through our discussions and gives this group its title; Closing the Loop. It is a regenerative economy based on the principles that resources on this planet are finite and need to be part of a material ecosystem; a closed loop of materials being used, re-used and recycled in an infinite loop that leaves little or no waste. Here, I explore the material role glass plays in our society. This collection has continued the theme of ‘green’ making, started at the Green exhibition at the Collins Gallery in Glasgow (2006) with Design-ED collective. Glass, a lustrous, transparent and durable industrial material, is an amazing nature inspired human invention of extraordinary qualities. From scientific laboratory ware to telescopic lenses, glass fibre communication cables to greenhouse panes and food jars, glass has enabled us to both see nature and protect us from it. As a material that remains almost in perpetuity, it is paradoxically also (theoretically) infinitely recyclable. It should be treasured.

A new body of works are three ‘tools for change’, a set of design fictions (inspired by discussions with colleagues at Creative Informatics) of possible tools that would help us lead a carbon neural life, using solar energy for ultra-fast heat processing, extracting carbon from the air (and maybe supplying carbon credits to the diamond growers? see below) and carbon sensors that scan the supply chain of materials thus helping us making informed decisions. These works were made using household waste glass, found objects and materials exchanged with other makers from the group during an inspiring residency at Hospitalfield in March 2022.

Diamond Are… is an installation that highlights how innovation is quite literally creating high value from thin air by extracting carbon from the air. Called ‘sky diamonds’ these carbon neutral industrial diamonds are ‘grown’ in a diamond mill, using hydrogen by splitting rainwater through electrolysis and powered by solar and wind energy. There is a poetry about this, which I tried to capture in a wee line: from a shimmering carbon sky, glittering diamonds grow. This installation features a found object (old mirror) and - in the spirit of the project - re-used objects from the studio made from pate-de-verre and cast glass juxtaposed with a cloud photograph.

Finally, Ten Green Bottles is development of a work started for the Green Design-Ed exhibition a the Collins Gallery, Glasgow (2006) using household waste glass to reflect some data about the value of glass, inspired by a visit to glass bottle making factory in Alloa. This work was revisited in Material Journey exhibition at the National Glas Centre in Sunderland (2018) and who bought a piece for its permanent collection. Ten Green Bottles has received a final update this year for this exhibition (suffice to say, some friends made a sterling effort in gathering corks to finish these works and their drinking efforts were appreciated!).