The Making of Individual Twists and Q&A with Nina Casson McGarva
13th February 2026
The Making of Individual Twists and Q&A with Nina Casson McGarva
Starting with conventional techniques, yet unachievable without the experimental, each of Casson McGarva’s sublime sculptures commence with a solid prone ridged slab of cast glass, only distinguishable from another, by its colour. From here, via reheating with a fleeting moment to achieve her aim, Casson McGarva pushes, pulls and coaxes her glass to create her dynamic standing curling forms. Despite similar beginnings, once subjected to such maverick making, the end results are all Individual Twists.
![]()
“My title for this collection came about as literally no two Twists are the same. Despite appearing to be created from the same initial form, it is only during a crucial moment in the making process, that each unique sculpture takes on its own distinct characteristics.
I love to explore techniques that are risky and make me feel slightly out-of-control, and the final making moments for each Twist are filled with this, as I only have one attempt to make it happen, after weeks of preparation work.
To explain a little about each step, I start with the more traditional techniques of kiln casting. After building a long-ribbed clay model, I create a mould and from this cast a wax version, which takes on all the details of its clay counterpart. The wax is then used to make my final lost wax plaster mould to cast my glass into. Using this process, I can create several waxes to cast from, hence each Twist having a similar start."
![]()
Clay model & detail
![]()
Plaster moulds
![]()
Plaster moulds filled with glass ready for casting
![]()
Plaster moulds after the casting firing
![]()
Cleaning away the plaster mould
"Once cast, I need to remove the plaster mould and tidy, what is now a glass version of the clay original, with grinding tools to give a smooth surface. From here the traditional moves aside for my more experimental techniques, as I then reheat the glass. On reaching 700°C, I remove the long mass from the kiln and whilst hot, twist it into its unique curling shape. I only have one minute to get this right, before the glass cools and becomes too hard to move, with the risk of it cracking and being lost altogether.
After this point, I can’t reheat the shape to have another attempt, as this would slump the glass. Following controlled slow cooling, there is usually more grinding to do to tidy the piece up. I then sandblast the surface which gives a soft and gentle looking finish.”
![]()
Casson McGarva forming & twisting her glass
“The first inspiration for these were ridges and veins found in petals and long leaves, like ribwort plantain, which is common in Europe. A plant for me, that is evocative of lawns and gardens.
Flowers and leaves are a big inspiration, especially when held up to the sun, as they have a translucency that lets the light in, just like glass. For me they hold something that is exciting even though they may seem simple in their texture and patterns. There is much to be found in the contrast of the thicker and thinner parts of their structures.
The twisting idea came from one of the first ones I made called Courgette Flower. During the lockdown period, I had a vegetable garden, and I loved seeing the courgette flowers. They would twist-up tight, closed in the evening, and open-up in the morning. From there I tried different colours with the results becoming more abstract, developing into the Individual Twist series.”
How did you get started in glass and what ‘drew’ you to the material?
“I was always drawn to glass as a child. I had a big marble collection and also had a mineral collection, which can have the same glassy aesthetic. I would go to all the flea markets in rural France looking to get more for my collections with my Dad, who collected traditional ceramics, old handmade bistro glasses and fine basketry, made in the regions I grew up in France (my parents collections were obviously a big influence too, as I ended up making glass and my sister Isabel is a basket weaver/archaeologist). My collections were things I could sit with quietly and contemplate, as a shy child, who quite liked being alone in my own little world, looking at the light going through the glass.
I tried several materials before I landed on glass. I learned to model clay from a very young age and in my early teens I learnt to throw clay in my Dad’s workshop. I also started a wood course in a french college, yet after 2 years on my way to qualify as a cabinet maker, I decided to try another material.
At age 17 I discovered there was a glass course not too far from where I lived. It was a material I knew little about at the time. I ended up doing a 4-year course at the national glass school in Yzeure, France, training as a glass blower with the possibility to work in the French Crystaleries at the end of the qualification. After this very technical training I then decided to go to art school in Denmark and fell in love with experimentation, and trying to do things with glass that people didn’t traditionally do. When I started mixing different glass techniques I realised, I wasn’t going to be a production glass blower, as I always thought I would be. My experimentations became more and more sculptural, and I realised that when it comes to achieving a sculptural outcome, kiln cast glass was my favourite aesthetic. That’s when I realised art glass was where I was going.”
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of your practice?
“Pushing myself harder all the time makes my work difficult for myself but it’s also the most rewarding part of my practice and something that keeps me going. Problem solving and failing over and over until you find the subtle things that might make something possible. I recently had to try other types of glass because the glass manufacturer I used was moving and their production was low, every glass is different and has its own sets of qualities and challenges, but it made me move on to different designs like these Individual Twist works, which are still challenging to make, the success to fail ratio is still to be worked on for these and that will only come with time making them over and over.”
![]()
Individual Twist Autumn and Individual Twist in Aquamarine & Amber
To date, what has been your ‘glass career’ high?
“There are several...
Being chosen for artist residencies in the USA just after art school in 2014 and 2015. It allowed me more time to refine my experimental ways of using glass, which was very precious for me.
My first prize in 2022 from the Worshipful Society of Glass Sellers. It’s just great to be recognised after 15 years of learning about glass.
And lastly, a big high was when I brought my biggest sculpture with me on the train to London and showed it to Angel Monzon at Vessel and he accepted my work for a summer showcase. This was early 2019 before I had my own studio or even a car but that is what started my glass career and got me going selling my work with proper gallery representation. Around that time, I was encouraged to show a piece in the British Glass Biennale 2019 and that's when more galleries started approaching me for my work. It was time to take the leap and somehow start my own studio, then covid hit us, but, it gave me some time to build a good body of work and be prepared for getting more work to my new galleries.”
How do you feel about the state of British art glass today?
“I’m saddened to hear that many art schools, who have glass departments, have closed them in the last few years. Being a glass artist might be getting quite rare. At the moment there is an incredible community of glass artists in the UK and most have been educated in these, now, shut-down schools. I have taught a few small masterclasses. I don’t think I'm a natural teacher but it’s so important to show how to make things and not hold back on technical 'secrets'. I admire artists who are amazing teachers and educate about glass for a living. It's so important. I think we need to stay positive about it and not discourage young people from starting. I would tell a young artist starting out to keep being ambitious, travel around to meet the glass artists you like and see how the people living from it operate.”
![]()
Individual Twist in Lilac & Clear and Individual Twist in Pink
Which living glass artist do you most admire and why?
“Colin Reid is an artist I really admire, I really connect with his work. As he uses textures from nature and integrates this into his glass. His work always has that 'wow' effect on me. And some of the artists I met on Bornholm in Denmark were part of my journey to being experimental. Jack Wax is one. He is also a professor/artist at VCU in Virginia USA. He opened my mind about experimenting and mixing techniques when I was in art school. I connected with his work instantly.
Pernille Braun, a Danish artist, showed us fusing glass isn’t just about flat glass, I really admire her work, and she showed me and my classmates how to experiment using kilns. Matthew Szosz was a resident artist and I was blown away by his experimental kiln work. That same year I was introduced to kiln casting by Sally Fawkes, who I then worked for as an assistant a few years later. This was all between 2011 and 2013.
That's when I decided I want to be like these people I admire. Their impact on my glass practice was very powerful. I don’t know if they even know. Seeing them work made me realise I didn’t have to stick to known techniques.”
If you could collaborate with any artist, from any background, who would that be and why?
“At the moment, my husband. He currently works for an art foundry full-time so we haven't had much time to explore the possibilities, but we are very slowly working together on a project of mine in bronze.”
![]()
Individual in Dark Green and Individual Twist in Green
Can you share any future plans? Either ones set in stone or something you would love to make happen?
“Big plans are happening at the moment in my personal life. My family is growing and I will be having my first baby when my solo show at Vessel is happening, I’m due early March. I also bought an old farm in Bourgogne, France, last summer, where there is enough space for my husband and I to have workshops in the outbuildings. Our plans are to renovate it and move there this summer.
It might take a while to get my workshop running again whilst being a new parent and in a new place. It’s going to be very different being an artist, and a parent, in rural France, but uncannily I will be following a similar path to my parents, who moved there when I was born. It will be interesting to see how it will change my work. Hopefully I can work on bigger ambitions of mine, like going up in scale or eventually having more time to work with my husband on some bronzes, which only a studio at our house will allow, whilst also taking time to care for our child.”
Individual Twists solo exhibition
Further artworks by the artist
About the artist
Nina Casson McGarva trained at the Ecole Nationale du Verre Jean Monnet and at the Glass and Ceramics Workshop on Bornholm (part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts). Since graduating in 2014, she has been on three notable Artist residency programs: Shin-nagata glass residence Kobe, Japan (2019) | Eair Program at Pilchuck Glass school in Stanwood, WA, USA (2015) | Starworks in Star, NC, USA (2014).
Casson McGarva has shown her work throughout Europe, Japan and in the USA. Most recently, she was selected as one of 60 artworks for the Toyama International 2024 Glass Exhibition. She has work in the collections of the: Achilles-Stiftung Glass Museum in Hamburg, Germany | Ernsting Foundation, Lette Glass Museum (Glasmuseum Lette) Coesfeld, Germany | Imagine Museum, St Petersburg, FL, USA | Glass Light Hotel and Gallery, Norfolk, VA, USA | Permanent Collections at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Starting with conventional techniques, yet unachievable without the experimental, each of Casson McGarva’s sublime sculptures commence with a solid prone ridged slab of cast glass, only distinguishable from another, by its colour. From here, via reheating with a fleeting moment to achieve her aim, Casson McGarva pushes, pulls and coaxes her glass to create her dynamic standing curling forms. Despite similar beginnings, once subjected to such maverick making, the end results are all Individual Twists.
Nina Casson McGarva
Process & Making - In the words of the artist
“My title for this collection came about as literally no two Twists are the same. Despite appearing to be created from the same initial form, it is only during a crucial moment in the making process, that each unique sculpture takes on its own distinct characteristics.
I love to explore techniques that are risky and make me feel slightly out-of-control, and the final making moments for each Twist are filled with this, as I only have one attempt to make it happen, after weeks of preparation work.
To explain a little about each step, I start with the more traditional techniques of kiln casting. After building a long-ribbed clay model, I create a mould and from this cast a wax version, which takes on all the details of its clay counterpart. The wax is then used to make my final lost wax plaster mould to cast my glass into. Using this process, I can create several waxes to cast from, hence each Twist having a similar start."
Clay model & detail
Plaster moulds
Plaster moulds filled with glass ready for casting
Plaster moulds after the casting firing
Cleaning away the plaster mould
"Once cast, I need to remove the plaster mould and tidy, what is now a glass version of the clay original, with grinding tools to give a smooth surface. From here the traditional moves aside for my more experimental techniques, as I then reheat the glass. On reaching 700°C, I remove the long mass from the kiln and whilst hot, twist it into its unique curling shape. I only have one minute to get this right, before the glass cools and becomes too hard to move, with the risk of it cracking and being lost altogether.
After this point, I can’t reheat the shape to have another attempt, as this would slump the glass. Following controlled slow cooling, there is usually more grinding to do to tidy the piece up. I then sandblast the surface which gives a soft and gentle looking finish.”
Casson McGarva forming & twisting her glass
Sources of Inspiration - In the words of the artist
“The first inspiration for these were ridges and veins found in petals and long leaves, like ribwort plantain, which is common in Europe. A plant for me, that is evocative of lawns and gardens.
Flowers and leaves are a big inspiration, especially when held up to the sun, as they have a translucency that lets the light in, just like glass. For me they hold something that is exciting even though they may seem simple in their texture and patterns. There is much to be found in the contrast of the thicker and thinner parts of their structures.
The twisting idea came from one of the first ones I made called Courgette Flower. During the lockdown period, I had a vegetable garden, and I loved seeing the courgette flowers. They would twist-up tight, closed in the evening, and open-up in the morning. From there I tried different colours with the results becoming more abstract, developing into the Individual Twist series.”
In Conversation with Nina Casson McGarva
How did you get started in glass and what ‘drew’ you to the material?
“I was always drawn to glass as a child. I had a big marble collection and also had a mineral collection, which can have the same glassy aesthetic. I would go to all the flea markets in rural France looking to get more for my collections with my Dad, who collected traditional ceramics, old handmade bistro glasses and fine basketry, made in the regions I grew up in France (my parents collections were obviously a big influence too, as I ended up making glass and my sister Isabel is a basket weaver/archaeologist). My collections were things I could sit with quietly and contemplate, as a shy child, who quite liked being alone in my own little world, looking at the light going through the glass.
I tried several materials before I landed on glass. I learned to model clay from a very young age and in my early teens I learnt to throw clay in my Dad’s workshop. I also started a wood course in a french college, yet after 2 years on my way to qualify as a cabinet maker, I decided to try another material.
At age 17 I discovered there was a glass course not too far from where I lived. It was a material I knew little about at the time. I ended up doing a 4-year course at the national glass school in Yzeure, France, training as a glass blower with the possibility to work in the French Crystaleries at the end of the qualification. After this very technical training I then decided to go to art school in Denmark and fell in love with experimentation, and trying to do things with glass that people didn’t traditionally do. When I started mixing different glass techniques I realised, I wasn’t going to be a production glass blower, as I always thought I would be. My experimentations became more and more sculptural, and I realised that when it comes to achieving a sculptural outcome, kiln cast glass was my favourite aesthetic. That’s when I realised art glass was where I was going.”
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of your practice?
“Pushing myself harder all the time makes my work difficult for myself but it’s also the most rewarding part of my practice and something that keeps me going. Problem solving and failing over and over until you find the subtle things that might make something possible. I recently had to try other types of glass because the glass manufacturer I used was moving and their production was low, every glass is different and has its own sets of qualities and challenges, but it made me move on to different designs like these Individual Twist works, which are still challenging to make, the success to fail ratio is still to be worked on for these and that will only come with time making them over and over.”
Individual Twist Autumn and Individual Twist in Aquamarine & Amber
To date, what has been your ‘glass career’ high?
“There are several...
Being chosen for artist residencies in the USA just after art school in 2014 and 2015. It allowed me more time to refine my experimental ways of using glass, which was very precious for me.
My first prize in 2022 from the Worshipful Society of Glass Sellers. It’s just great to be recognised after 15 years of learning about glass.
And lastly, a big high was when I brought my biggest sculpture with me on the train to London and showed it to Angel Monzon at Vessel and he accepted my work for a summer showcase. This was early 2019 before I had my own studio or even a car but that is what started my glass career and got me going selling my work with proper gallery representation. Around that time, I was encouraged to show a piece in the British Glass Biennale 2019 and that's when more galleries started approaching me for my work. It was time to take the leap and somehow start my own studio, then covid hit us, but, it gave me some time to build a good body of work and be prepared for getting more work to my new galleries.”
How do you feel about the state of British art glass today?
“I’m saddened to hear that many art schools, who have glass departments, have closed them in the last few years. Being a glass artist might be getting quite rare. At the moment there is an incredible community of glass artists in the UK and most have been educated in these, now, shut-down schools. I have taught a few small masterclasses. I don’t think I'm a natural teacher but it’s so important to show how to make things and not hold back on technical 'secrets'. I admire artists who are amazing teachers and educate about glass for a living. It's so important. I think we need to stay positive about it and not discourage young people from starting. I would tell a young artist starting out to keep being ambitious, travel around to meet the glass artists you like and see how the people living from it operate.”
Individual Twist in Lilac & Clear and Individual Twist in Pink
Which living glass artist do you most admire and why?
“Colin Reid is an artist I really admire, I really connect with his work. As he uses textures from nature and integrates this into his glass. His work always has that 'wow' effect on me. And some of the artists I met on Bornholm in Denmark were part of my journey to being experimental. Jack Wax is one. He is also a professor/artist at VCU in Virginia USA. He opened my mind about experimenting and mixing techniques when I was in art school. I connected with his work instantly.
Pernille Braun, a Danish artist, showed us fusing glass isn’t just about flat glass, I really admire her work, and she showed me and my classmates how to experiment using kilns. Matthew Szosz was a resident artist and I was blown away by his experimental kiln work. That same year I was introduced to kiln casting by Sally Fawkes, who I then worked for as an assistant a few years later. This was all between 2011 and 2013.
That's when I decided I want to be like these people I admire. Their impact on my glass practice was very powerful. I don’t know if they even know. Seeing them work made me realise I didn’t have to stick to known techniques.”
If you could collaborate with any artist, from any background, who would that be and why?
“At the moment, my husband. He currently works for an art foundry full-time so we haven't had much time to explore the possibilities, but we are very slowly working together on a project of mine in bronze.”
Individual in Dark Green and Individual Twist in Green
Can you share any future plans? Either ones set in stone or something you would love to make happen?
“Big plans are happening at the moment in my personal life. My family is growing and I will be having my first baby when my solo show at Vessel is happening, I’m due early March. I also bought an old farm in Bourgogne, France, last summer, where there is enough space for my husband and I to have workshops in the outbuildings. Our plans are to renovate it and move there this summer.
It might take a while to get my workshop running again whilst being a new parent and in a new place. It’s going to be very different being an artist, and a parent, in rural France, but uncannily I will be following a similar path to my parents, who moved there when I was born. It will be interesting to see how it will change my work. Hopefully I can work on bigger ambitions of mine, like going up in scale or eventually having more time to work with my husband on some bronzes, which only a studio at our house will allow, whilst also taking time to care for our child.”
Individual Twists solo exhibition
Further artworks by the artist
About the artist
Nina Casson McGarva trained at the Ecole Nationale du Verre Jean Monnet and at the Glass and Ceramics Workshop on Bornholm (part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts). Since graduating in 2014, she has been on three notable Artist residency programs: Shin-nagata glass residence Kobe, Japan (2019) | Eair Program at Pilchuck Glass school in Stanwood, WA, USA (2015) | Starworks in Star, NC, USA (2014).
Casson McGarva has shown her work throughout Europe, Japan and in the USA. Most recently, she was selected as one of 60 artworks for the Toyama International 2024 Glass Exhibition. She has work in the collections of the: Achilles-Stiftung Glass Museum in Hamburg, Germany | Ernsting Foundation, Lette Glass Museum (Glasmuseum Lette) Coesfeld, Germany | Imagine Museum, St Petersburg, FL, USA | Glass Light Hotel and Gallery, Norfolk, VA, USA | Permanent Collections at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.