Jonas Noël Niedermann | House of Glass Gallery

Jonas Noël Niedermann,
Switzerland

Blond male blacksmith in a blue shirt and protective gloves standing in front of a glowing forge

Jonas Noël Niedermann is a Swiss glass artist whose practice combines technical precision with an experimental approach to form, colour and material. Drawing on a deep knowledge of traditional glassmaking, he explores how layered colour, surface and structure can transform the optical and physical presence of glass.

Curatorial Profile

Abstract translucent pink and orange glass sculpture with jagged, ruffled edges on a white background

Jonas Noël Niedermann’s practice emerges from an unusually early and sustained engagement with glass. Beginning his training as a teenager and later working in studios across Europe and the United States, he developed his understanding of the material through direct contact with different glassmaking traditions, techniques and generations of makers.

This technical foundation is central to his work, but it is not its destination. Niedermann approaches craftsmanship as a means of testing and extending what glass can become. Precise geometries and carefully controlled proportions provide a framework within which colour, transparency and internal structure can behave in less predictable ways.

In his recent works, multiple layers of colour are integrated into the body of the object, producing shifting patterns and surfaces that change according to light and perspective. What appears solid and precisely defined can become visually fluid, creating a tension between the physical rigidity of the material and the optical movement contained within it.

This dialogue between control and transformation reflects a broader relationship with the history of glassmaking. Niedermann draws on the knowledge and discipline of traditional craft while continually looking for ways to reconsider its possibilities. Rather than separating tradition from experimentation, his practice allows one to become the foundation for the other.

The result is a sculptural language in which technical mastery remains visible but serves a broader investigation of form, material and perception. His work retains a strong connection to the traditions of glassmaking while continually testing how those traditions can be carried forward.

House of Glass Gallery

Artist Statement

Glass has fascinated me since I first encountered glassmaking as a child. What began as an attraction to the material gradually became a lifelong commitment to understanding its possibilities — from the traditions and knowledge behind the craft to the ways those traditions can be pushed further.

My work is rooted in craftsmanship, but I am interested in what happens when established ways of working with glass are questioned. Shape, proportion, colour and surface become tools for exploring the tension between precision and transformation.

In my recent work, I have been experimenting with multiple layers of colour that become integrated into the core of the object. As these layers interact, they create changing patterns and surfaces, allowing a material that is physically rigid to appear visually fluid and constantly shifting.

Nature has also shaped the way I understand form and scale. Growing up surrounded by the Swiss mountains gave me an early awareness of proportion, structure and the relationship between an object and the space around it.

For me, glassmaking exists in a continuous dialogue between tradition and the future. Every experience with the material offers an opportunity to extend the boundaries of my craft, while retaining respect for the knowledge on which it is built. The goal is not technique for its own sake. The goal is art.