Jan-Joop Ruisch

Jan-Joop Ruisch is a prominent Dutch glass artist who prefers to work with optical glass where he can create illusions of a fourth dimension. Born in Rotterdam in 1956, Ruisch studied Social Sciences in Utrecht.
Late eighties Ruisch visited the International Glass Symposium in Novy Bor, Czech Republic where he met the glass Artist Pavel Satrapa, who taught him the intricate ways of cutting and polishing of optical glass. In 1991 he moved to a small village close to Novy Bor. Having settled there, he and his wife, also a glass artist, subsequently built their own studio where he has been creating glass art ever since.
Glass, especially optical glass, captivates Ruisch.

“Sculpting with glass is a tri-dimensional expression” says Ruisch. “The sculptor can even play with light and shadow. Optical glass brings the sculptor in a position where he can create a 4th dimension. A perfect-ly polished outer surface becomes a mirror inside the glass, where light is reflected and refracted. This makes the object react to the position of the viewer. From a different position the object will look different. It is therefore, impossible to get a real impression from one picture”.