Isle of Wight Studio Glass Follow the Flame If you've followed the Merstone Phoenix this far, you may have noticed something peculiar. It has changed course. Instead of continuing along its expected flight path, our Phoenix has been making rather suspicious excursions towards Arreton. Some say they have even seen a trail of fire crossing the sky. Naturally, Professor Follies has been investigating. His first theory was fairly obvious. Heat. There is an extraordinary amount of it coming from a building at Arreton Barns. Inside, furnaces burn at temperatures exceeding 1,000°C. Glassmakers work with fire, smoke and molten glass, taking an almost shapeless glowing material and transforming it into objects of remarkable colour and beauty. Frankly, if you were a Phoenix flying over the Isle of Wight, you'd probably have a look too. But there may be another reason our Phoenix keeps returning. Because when you start digging into the history of Isle of Wight Studio Glass, you discover that this is a place with its own story of fire, transformation and rebirth. And that story begins long before the glassworks arrived in Arreton. Meet Michael Harris To understand what you're looking at today, we need to travel back to the 1950s. Michael Harris was born in 1933 and studied at the Royal College of Art, graduating with first-class honours in 1959. He later returned to teach there and, in 1967, established hot-glass facilities at the College. This was an exciting period in glassmaking. Rather than simply drawing something and handing the design to somebody else to manufacture, artists were increasingly getting their own hands on the material. They were getting close to the furnace. Experimenting. Making mistakes. Discovering what molten glass could actually do. Michael Harris became an important figure in that emerging studio-glass movement. But his story was about to leave Britain altogether. From Britain to Malta In 1968, Michael travelled to Malta and established Mdina Glass. If you know anything about collectible studio glass, that name may already mean something to you. The colours, shapes and techniques developed during those years became an important part of Michael's story. But in 1972 he returned to Britain. And one year later, something rather important happened here on the Isle of Wight. In 1973, Michael and his wife Elizabeth established Isle of Wight Studio Glass at Old Park, St Lawrence. An Island glassmaking tradition had begun. Glass inspired by the Island This wasn't simply glass that happened to be made on the Isle of Wight. The Island itself became part of the work. One example is the studio's Undercliff range, inspired by the remarkable landscape surrounding its original St Lawrence home. Layers of colour and texture, together with materials including gold and silver leaf, were used to evoke the rocks, trees and vegetation of the Undercliff. The Island was finding its way into the glass. Then, in 1978, the studio developed the technique behind one of its best-known ranges, Azurene, applying precious gold and silver to hot glass. The work subsequently received recognition from the Design Council. But while all this experimentation was happening, there was another Harris watching the furnaces. And he was rather fascinated by them. A boy, a beer crate and a furnace Michael's son Timothy grew up surrounded by glassmaking. Imagine being a child in that environment. The heat. The smoke. The colours. The strange glowing material being pulled from a furnace and transformed in front of you. Timothy became fascinated by it. By the age of thirteen, he was already experimenting with glass himself. He reportedly needed to stand on a beer crate to reach properly while making small glass birds he called Diddybirds. Those early experiments became something considerably more serious. Timothy formally studied glassmaking and returned to the Isle of Wight in 1980 to work alongside his father. The second generation of Harris glassmaking had begun. From Arreton to Royal collections Over the following decades, Timothy developed an international reputation of his own. His work has found its way into museums, galleries, private collections and Royal hands. There have been pieces associated with significant Royal occasions, including work for the Queen Mother's 90th birthday. In 2012, Timothy personally presented Queen Elizabeth II with an engraved glass bowl given as a gift from the people of the Isle of Wight during her Diamond Jubilee year. Quite a journey for a boy who once needed a beer crate to reach the furnace. But the story wasn't going to remain at St Lawrence forever. And this is where things become particularly interesting for our Phoenix. Rising again Michael Harris died in 1994, but the glassmaking tradition he established continued. Eventually, however, the original St Lawrence chapter of Isle of Wight Studio Glass came to an end. It could have ended there. It didn't. In 2013, Isle of Wight Studio Glass was revitalised at a new home here at Arreton Barns, allowing Timothy Harris and the family tradition to continue. And Professor Follies has a theory about that. Perhaps the Merstone Phoenix isn't repeatedly flying over Arreton simply because it can feel the tremendous heat coming from the furnace. Perhaps it has discovered something familiar. Because Isle of Wight Studio Glass has done something every Phoenix understands. It rose again. New home. New chapter. Same fire. Perhaps the Phoenix simply recognised a kindred spirit. Now go and see the fire for yourself Here's the particularly good bit. You're not standing outside somewhere whose history finished decades ago. They're still making glass here. Every piece of Isle of Wight Studio Glass is handmade at the Arreton studio. And you can watch. Visitors are welcome to enter the working studio, see the glassmakers at work and discover how heat, breath, movement and extraordinary skill transform molten glass into a finished piece. You don't have to buy anything. You don't need to be a glass collector. You can simply watch. Then, if something catches your eye, you can explore the finished work and discover what the studio is creating today. There is an instruction used by Studio Glass for finding your way there which Professor Follies rather wishes he'd thought of first: Follow the flame. And don't leave just yet... Because there's something else here. The Isle of Wight Museum of Glass is alongside the working studio. Inside are around 1,200 pieces displayed across two galleries, including an extensive collection of glass handmade on the Isle of Wight. You'll find the Harris story represented there too, stretching back through Isle of Wight Studio Glass and even further to Michael Harris's work with Mdina Glass and his Royal College of Art period. Which creates a rather wonderful experience. You can look at the history... ...and then walk across and watch its next chapter being made. Professor Follies' Field Note So, Quester, we appear to have solved this particular mystery. The strange heat signature over Arreton is real. The furnace is real. The glass is most certainly real. As for the fiery creature occasionally spotted circling overhead... Well. Professor Follies recommends keeping one eye on the furnace and the other on the sky. Your mission is simple. Find Arreton Barns. Find the glassworks. Discover the story. Watch fire transform glass. And see whether you can work out what keeps bringing the Merstone Phoenix back. Follow the flame. 🔥🐦‍🔥