International Festival of Glass

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International Festival of Glass The International Festival of Glass celebrates the spectacle, drama and excitement of glassmaking from around the globe!

The International Festival of Glass is a festival that takes place every two years across Stourbridge’s Glass Quarter. It is now a firmly established event over the August bank holiday which aims to intrigue, innovate and inspire glass makers and the public alike. The festival celebrates the unique glass making heritage of the area as well as the dynamic emergence of a whole new era of contemporary glass making drawing large national and international audiences into Stourbridge and the Black Country. Featuring world class exhibitions, including the prestigious British Glass Biennale, demonstrations, open studios, bead fair, heritage walks, family events, lectures, a glass fashion show, performances, plenty of fantastic retail opportunities and the chance to have a go at glassmaking yourself.

Experience The Breaking of a Kouze - a live performance by Aria Kiani.Saturday 8th August, 12pm BST.Join us for a rare o...
30/07/2026

Experience The Breaking of a Kouze - a live performance by Aria Kiani.
Saturday 8th August, 12pm BST.

Join us for a rare opportunity to experience The Breaking of a Kouze, a free live performance by artist Aria Kiani. The resulting work will be displayed as part of the British Glass Biennale at The World of Glass until 1st November.

Kiani’s practice explores material storytelling, identity, and social history, using sculpture and performance to create spaces for reflection and conversion. During this unique live performance, visitors will witness the careful breaking of a traditional Iranian ceramic kouze to reveal a delicate glass vessel containing Shiraz wine hidden within.

Not able to join us in person? Follow InternationalFestivalofGlass and Glass Art Society where we will be live streaming parts of the performance so you can witness the work from anywhere in the world!

The 2026 International Festival of Glass is organised by the Glass Art Society, with support from public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

This week is the last chance to see the British Glass Biennale and 'Lines, Threads and Traces' exhibitions. Join us on ...
24/09/2024

This week is the last chance to see the British Glass Biennale and 'Lines, Threads and Traces' exhibitions.

Join us on Saturday 3-4pm for the closing event and the announcement of the last three prize winners:
The People's Prize sponsored by Warm Glass UK
The Glass Lab Award sponsored by The Glass Foundry UK
The Young Collectors Award sponsored by The Glass Sellers.

Fantastic glass in a fantastic space

Photos by Marti Jachimczyk and Jamie Bradford

Join us this evening for our Last Goodbye in the Arabian Tent at Ruskin Glass Centre. Live music, drinks and games from ...
26/08/2024

Join us this evening for our Last Goodbye in the Arabian Tent at Ruskin Glass Centre. Live music, drinks and games from 7pm to say farewell to the International Festival of Glass here in Stourbridge.

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We have lots of beautiful exhibitions across our venues to see so many glassmaking techniques from established and emerg...
26/08/2024

We have lots of beautiful exhibitions across our venues to see so many glassmaking techniques from established and emerging artists, from both here in the UK and all over the world.

Our flagship exhibition, the British Glass Biennale is not to be missed. We’ve also got a fantastic display of glass panels all inspired by William Morris from the British Society of Master Glass Painters in the Zodiac Room at Ruskin Glass Centre

This evening’s entertainment moves to for Jazz by the Dutch Lewis Broadband. Between 5pm until 10pm enjoy live jazz, gr...
25/08/2024

This evening’s entertainment moves to for Jazz by the Dutch Lewis Broadband. Between 5pm until 10pm enjoy live jazz, great food, lanterns and open fires. All welcome and free entry. What a lovely way to round off Day 3!

We are open for Day 3 of the Festival! Thanks to everyone who has joined us so far, we’ve still got lots to come.This ye...
25/08/2024

We are open for Day 3 of the Festival! Thanks to everyone who has joined us so far, we’ve still got lots to come.

This year we’ve got an incredible line up of exhibitions, showing the work of glass artists from all over the world and demonstrating the versatility of this captivating material! You can travel around the various Festival sites with ease on our festival shuttle bus.

The exhibitions include the beautifully curated Fifteen x Fifteen exhibition at featuring 47 artists from 11 different countries.

As the daytime events and activities are drawing to a close on Day 2, we have an evening event at Ruskin Glass Centre. R...
24/08/2024

As the daytime events and activities are drawing to a close on Day 2, we have an evening event at Ruskin Glass Centre. Ruskin’s Seven Lamps will be an evening of music, fire and intimate spectacle. Produced for us by Walk The Plank, who brought us the first festival finale in 2004, the evening is not to be missed!

Tickets are £20/£10 concessions and can be bought on the gate this evening. For more info visit the Festival Programme (link in bio)

We’ve got a new feature on the programme this year - Casual Conversations. An opportunity for an informal chat with a si...
24/08/2024

We’ve got a new feature on the programme this year - Casual Conversations. An opportunity for an informal chat with a significant person from the glass community. Today from 3-4pm you have the opportunity to speak with our Masterclass Leader Zhenning Li - but there’s just one slot left. Head to the website (link in bio) to snap it up!

Address

Ruskin Glass Centre, The Glasshouse
Stourbridge
DY84HF

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