Alive and vibrant
František Jungvirt's vases have been inhabited by beetles, frogs, and lizards.
Glass designer, artist, and glass painter František Jungvirt has delved into the animal kingdom with his new collectible series of art vases. Selected pieces from his existing Garden and Trifid collections are currently adorned with three-dimensional tiny creatures – lizards, fish, frogs, bugs, and spiders. The glass, realistic-looking animals were hand-modeled by glass master Martin Štefánek from Desná. Thanks to his skill, they are almost indistinguishable from their living counterparts. A total of fifteen variants were created, with only one single specimen of each available.
Nature serves as one of the most common sources of inspiration for František Jungvirt, and he repeatedly works with its motifs. His first project was Still Life with Animals and Fruit (2019), followed by his graduate works Frangible Scenery (2020) and Floral Creatures (2022). His latest collectible editions, Plush Animals and Dark Cave Animals, build upon this previous work.
"I come from Vimperk, but I moved to Prague for my studies. I miss the Šumava nature here, and perhaps that's why it interests and fascinates me so much. I enjoy studying it scientifically – in my bachelor's and master's theses, I focused on various species of insects and other creatures and their portrayal in glass," explains František Jungvirt.
Cute yet eerie. In the Plush Animals and Dark Cave Animals collections, the designer captures two contrasting aspects of the animal kingdom. On one side, there are creatures with striking, colorful patterns, exuding cuteness and often harmlessness. They resemble plush animals that were our inseparable companions in childhood. On the other side stand those that instill fear in us, some even triggering phobias. The individual artistic objects evoke similar feelings. While the Plush Animals collection abounds with colorful, playfully frolicking frogs, fish, and lizards, the vases from the Dark Cave Animal edition are inhabited by eerily realistic (even hyperrealistic) spiders and beetles – rhinoceros beetles.
Intentionally placed on the minimalist shapes of his vases, the hand-modeled figurines, which faithfully mimic living creatures down to the last detail, highlight the craftsmanship of their creator, glass master Martin Štefánek from Desná.
"Without Mr. Štefánek's skill, this design would not have been possible to realize. Modeling animals into a 3D form, which is then meticulously adhered to the vase, is a complex and demanding technology. I am pleased that we have such skilled craftsmen in the Czech Republic, and at the same time, it troubles me that many of them are already in pre-retirement age and have no one to pass on their knowledge to," notes Jungvirt.
A total of fifteen different designs were created within the Plush Animals and Dark Cave Animals collectible editions, each available in a single piece only. The vases are hand-blown into wooden molds, the glass animals are hand-modeled, and then adhered to the vase while still warm. The objects are hand-signed, certified, and numbered. They can be purchased on František Jungvirt's e-shop or viewed in his showroom in Prague's Košíře.
