Vanja Venrooy’s passion for glass began with taking a short course in stained glass windows over 20 years ago. In the process of renovating their 1920’s villa, she made over 30 beautiful panels for their new kitchen cupboards, doorways, windows and light shades. It wasn’t until much later that she discovered glass fusing.
Glass fusing is the process of cutting pieces of compatible glasses, arranging them on a shelf and melting (fusing) it in a kiln. This is such a simple description, but the possibilities are limitless.
In glass fusing, Vanja is self-taught and has a hobby-business under the name of Roxtar Glass Art since 2013. Initially her focus was on small functional pieces such as jewellery, plates and bowls, and selling these at various craft markets around Canterbury.
Recently, her focus has been on transitioning from glass craft to Glass Art, and elevating her creations “off the table” and onto the wall or shelf. Inspired by glass tapestry techniques developed by the likes of Richard Parrish and Ian Chadwick, she is striving to create designs and patterns that are a little outside the box.