Page 57 - Constructing Craft

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Glass which was established in 1950 and survived until 1989. When studio glass
did begin to be produced in New Zealand in the 1970s it was America not Britain
that became the source of knowledge for most craftspeople working in glass.

Before the American, Tony Kuepher arrived in 1974 New Zealand had no tradition
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of studio glass making. However, while a history may not have existed, one
craftsman was operating as a studio craftsman in glass. New Zealand’s first studio
glass artist was Reg Kempton who was born in 1897 in England. He began work in

his family glass factory in London at the age of fifteen. After the Second World War

he moved to live for a while in Australia before moving to New Zealand. He set up a
diesel-fired furnace and coke-fired lehr (kiln) in a studio at Havelock in the

Marlborough Sounds in 1963 producing simple bottles and vases. His wife was his
most important assistant. Reg Kempton died in Thames in 1987, aged 90

Reg Kempton blowing glass, 1978. Photo: Bruce Given.

Constructing Craft