I got to know Tobias Møhl during my stay on the Maldivian island of Soneva Fushi. He had been invited to work there for three weeks as a guest artist and create beautiful works of art from the island’s own recycled glass. An attractive undertaking for the Danish glass artist. At the end of his guest stay, his works were presented in an exhibition. Consequently, visitors to the island were offered the opportunity to enjoy the art as well as buy some on site. It is impressive what can be made from old bottles – a fascinating combination of Venetian techniques, Danish understatement and Maldivian light.
Finding his personal expression, further developing it, refining and improving it some more, is incredibly important for Tobias Møhl. He likes to clearly define his own style and make it tangible. His fascination for craft and design and his desire to become a qualified artist and craftsman brought him early on to the art of glass blowing. This is the medium he uses to express himself as an artisanal artist. Four years after his training at Holmegaard – Purveyor to the Royal Danish Court – in Hørsholm Denmark, he had the good fortune to be able to work together with the Venetian artist Lino Tagliapietra for the first time as a master student. Two more masterclasses followed. Lino Tagliapietra, a renowned maestro known throughout the world as the best glass blower, introduced him to the Venetian technique, which he then adapted in a Scandinavian way and developed further for himself. Researching the material and its possibilities helped Tobias Møhl discover an organic style whose modest colour tones and simple detail gives rise to a level of sophistication that is typical for Danish design. Reserved, clear works of art emerge that appear like living organisms. Tobias Møhl has proved his talent in numerous exhibitions from Italy to Japan to the USA. Today, having received a number of awards, he is one of the world’s most renowned glass artists and his works can be found in many public and private collections. He works meanwhile in his own workshop and is part of a successful generation of Danish glass artists – Denmark has 200 glass blowers among a population of just five million.
On Soneva Fushi, I had the opportunity to observe Tobias Møhl at his work and to follow the many steps it ultimately takes to make a unique and impressive work of art from glass. Glass blowing is a fine art but it is also a manual activity that requires a lot of physical exertion. Full of energy, Tobias Møhl devotes himself to his task and pursues his own course as a freelance artist. With quiet and concentration, step by step he develops an idea of what could be hiding in the piece of glass he is working on. Which spirit, which textile ornament is trapped in there? What will be released in a work of art? For me, as an amateur, it all seems magical: the transformation of the material; its different physical states and colours make it hard to imagine or only just discernible what the end product will look like. Unique tools, whose function I can only deduce once they are being used, fill the space. Added to which is the heat, without which glass art is not possible. A sweat-inducing work, which can also be associated with setbacks, but which is very satisfying when in the end, a high-quality, unique piece of transparent subtlety emerges.
