Lukáš Šulc

Lukáš Šulc (1969, Jablonec nad Nisou) is a glass artist who has devoted his entire life to hot glass. He graduated from the glass school in Železný Brod, where he was influenced from the very beginning by sculptor Pavel Ježek and master glassmaker Stanislav Šimůnek.

From 2001 to 2016, he taught at the school, and since 2006 he has headed its hot shop as master glassmaker. He is one of those artists who not only possess exceptional command of the craft, but also pass their knowledge on to the next generation.

His own artistic practice began to take clearer shape in 2012, when he created his first fused glass sculptures. Since then, he has combined a deep knowledge of hot-glass techniques with a distinctly artistic approach. He experiments with casting into moulds and works with glass batches that he melts himself. The resulting objects often resemble fragments of nature or the universe. Sometimes minerals, at other times planetary surfaces or distant galaxies. His bowls made of crystal glass, meanwhile, can look as though they were carved directly from ice.

Šulc’s sculptures are robust, direct and completely unpretentious. They stand out for their clean lines, radical volumes and fascinating transparency, which allows light to penetrate deep into the object. Critics have described them as fragments of a universal history and rank them among the most remarkable works of contemporary Czech glass art.

Alongside his own work, Šulc collaborates with many Czech artists and designers, including Maxim Velčovský, Alena Matějka and Jakub Berdych. His distinctive artistic signature — confidence in working with hot glass and a direct sculptural expression — can therefore also be found in the work of a number of other artists.

Selection of Works