Umlauf-Orrom Ulrike

Ulrike Umlauf-Orrom, born in Northern Bavaria in 1953, trained in ceramics and then studied industrial design in Munich. She was awarded a Master of Arts in Ceramics and Glass after further study at the Royal College of Art in London. What led her to glass was what she wanted to achieve with the surfaces of her ceramic work – a gentle transparency and luminous skin. She has been working with glass ever since, in a wide variety of techniques, and is now using a method of fusing, which she has developed herself. With a wide range of glass enamels, Ulrike transforms sheets of clear glass into saturated coloured shapes with translucent structures and linear textures. She is inspired by textile art – weaving strings of colour and air into a multi-layered fabric of glass. Embedded air pockets, which look like upholstery, enhance the interaction with light. Repetitive patterns and the application of coloured shapes draw the viewer´s attention into the depth of the glass. The apparently simple, reduced pieces are sculptural objects. They do not reveal the painstakingly complex process of their creation to a casual glance. A cloth of glass, a frozen textile – they are made for contemplation.