The patterns and colours of the glass, coupled with the influences of the sea and a wide variety of flowers from her garden provide her with an unending supply of creative ideas.

Fused glass designer
Karen Francis

Karen originally trained in art as part of a teaching qualification and started working with glass in 2004. She now works fulltime at her glass business in a small village in the heart of the glorious Dorset countryside.

She learnt glass techniques during an intensive one to one course on stained and fused glass and discovered that working with hot glass is very exciting because there is always an element of surprise when the kiln is opened and the results of the firing are first seen.

Karen is fascinated by the interplay of light and shadow, especially the effects of light on the sea and the way in which the colour of the sky is reflected in it.

She became interested in the effect of one colour upon another and how that is affected by the intensity of the light reflected from or shining through coloured glass.

She is always developing new designs and gets immense satisfaction in producing pieces of jewellery which complement a particular individual or a special outfit. For her this is an important part of the creative process.

She uses dichroic glass and the world famous Murano glass to achieve unique pieces of jewellery which appear to have endless depth and a subtle range of colours.