Annkris-Glass – the magical world of glass art

Annkris-Glass is a glass studio founded by two glass artists – Kristi Ringkjob and Anne-Liis Leht. They both graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts specializing in glass art.

Annkris-Glass specializes in designing different glass items including awards, gifts, jewellery, lamps, clocks, applied art items and so on. The designs are always original and every piece is made by hand.
The studio’s primary focus is one-off orders and small series. Many projects involve collaboration with metal artists, glass blowers, interior designers and other people in creative fields.

Finding new perspectives
The designers recently took part in the national design competition to find an “Ethical Estonian Souvenir”. “The aim of the competition was to find sustainable solutions and challenge designers to discover new perspectives on the design of national souvenirs,” Leht explains. They definitely hit the mark and took home the main prize for a traditional women’s brooch made from the broken foot of a wine glass. “We wanted to create new value and beauty out of something which would have been otherwise thrown into the garbage bin,” Leht says, explaining the basis for their idea.

Both artists are convinced that over time people will have more and more appreciation of original art over mass-produced items. “Handmade items are much more valuable than mass produced ones,” say the artists, adding – “Our products value the client because the value of an art piece grows over time.”

Making and teaching art
But making art is not enough for Kristi and Anne-Liis. They also want to share the joy and secrets of the creative process by offering short courses to people interested in glass art. Teaching such glass techniques are fusing, slumping and stained glass, they have introduced the magical world of glass art to many who are searching for their creative side.

The designers are open to international collaborations, currently developing contacts with Nordic designers to co-create shows and exhibitions in different countries. Anne-Liis and Kristi aim to make their brand known abroad as well as in Estonia, and they are definitely on their way.