The first African Aromatic related product I am featuring is glass artist Ingrid de Haast’s beautiful glass perfume pendants. Ingrid works from her studio in Somerset West. She is as passionate about her glass work as I am about perfumes and African Aromatics. Each time I visit her studio she bubbles with enthusiasm about new techniques she is experimenting with to expand her skills.
“I basically play with fire. I use glass on torch to make my pieces.” – Ingrid de Haast
Ingrid started out as a potter and worked on my clay for 20 years ending up with lustred porcelain jars and bowls but she found herself yearning to get into glass.
She was introduced to stained glass but found that flat glass was a bit restrictive, and then went on to doing a fusing glass where she slumped large flat pieces of glass adding decorative elements. Ingrid enjoyed the fusing so much so that it inspired her to travel to the States where she learned further techniques in the art of fusing and creating murals which lead her to discover the art of bead making. Ingrid describes her bead making as creating miniature works of art.
Her perfume pendants are indeed miniature works of art. Each vial reflects the rich and brilliant colours of nature. As Ingrid is a nature lover and spends a lot of time walking and hiking her love of nature inspires her with all its colours and textures. Her amphora shaped pendants reminds me of something one would imagine that was traded during the days of the Spice Routes as a precious commodity. The lustrous colours of her pendants reflect the opulent jewel like colours associated with the Orientalists’ paintings.
John Frederick Lewis – A Cairo Bazaar, The Dellai
Each of her pendants evokes for me the romance and adventures of the classic tales of “The Arabian Nights” making them ideal vessels to hold the precious aromatic liquids close to your heart. Ingrid will also make up pendants on request to reflect colour preferences. We have four examples of her pendants available for sale in our shop.
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