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Fernando Ramirez

"My name is Fernando Ramírez Zamorano Cruz and I was born in Mexico City. I graduated from the Universidad Panamericana with a degree in industrial design. Glass held a very special attraction for me from the time I was in college. Although I had no idea of the technical challenges this material imposes on an artist or designer, I was attracted to it with a kind of fascination.

"Several years after finishing college, I had the opportunity to know this material better and I immersed myself in the possibilities that it offers. This occurred in 1985 when I had the wonderful experience of attending a summer course in Pilchuck, Washington. I then decided to look for opportunities to study glass techniques in Europe.

"In 1986, I took a two month working course in the Hein Derix studios in Germany, then went on to Sweden where I studied and worked with blown glass at Orrefors Glaskolan for a year and a half. In 1988 and '89 I had the opportunity to collaborate as an assistant in Jan-Erik Ritzmann's studio for an entire year. Ritzmann is a master glass blower in Sweden. Beginning in 1992, I learned the technique of fused glass and went to Portland, Oregon. There I worked as an assistant to the Austrian artist Rudi Gritsch.

"In 1993, I set up my own workshop in Mexico where I work with fused and thermoformed glass.

"Glass has the peculiarity of fascinating everyone who comes close to it – not only the finished piece but also the process of transforming it. This can be through blown glass, fused glass, thermoform, vacuum or any of the many and difficult methods, both hot and cold.

"At times, I've tried to ask myself what kind of excitement or feelings glass causes in me, and the closest I get to an answer is that it puts me in a good mood. It's that plain and simple. And this is what I try to communicate through my designs."