Brittle Beauty

Brittle Beauty explores the fragility and beauty of marine life through glass. Created using glass casting and glass blowing techniques of sea urchin shells and coral specimens sourced in collaboration with the Natural History Museum and University of Edinburgh, this work captures the intricate textures of these marine structures. The brittle, translucent nature of the glass mirrors the delicate ecosystems they represent. A microscopic photograph of a starfish, taken as part of my marine biology studies, is projected onto the glass, further layering the relationship between scientific observation and material transformation. This act of reinterpreting museum specimens—often collected as ornaments—into ethereal glass forms then reflects preservation, materiality, and the shifting states of marine environments.