William Harris

Born in 1985 in southern New Jersey and began creating as soon as his hands could work/as long as he remembers. In 1996 his family moved to Bethlehem PA. where he attended public school making his way through both school's art programs. Then in 2002 William met and befriended rather closely Marlene "Linny" Fowler who in turn gave him a job at the Banana Factory in her stained glass studio (overseen by Octavio Pena); and the following year (2003) would send him across the country to attend the California College of the Arts. Over the duration of 5 years William collected and honed his plethora of skills and vast knowledge of materials/media to then graduate with a degree in glassmaking (2008).

Since 2008 William has created a myriad of objects, installations, and arrangements that promote happiness, fun and brightness, however the main product is a novel that he has written and illustrated over the duration of 13 years. Primarily working in colored pencil he has produced visually rich, bold yet severely intricate images, looking to push his boundaries and meet the challenge with each illustration. In spring 2022 he returned to the Banana Factory to have the solo exhibition of this vast body of work containing 40 out of the 60 illustrations completed. It was a tribute to his mentor Linny who regrettably passed on in 2013 on his birthday. William currently attends the Royal College of Art (RCA) doing an MA in product design, where he focuses on recyclable materials and turning them into unrecognizable, luxury Items for all.

“I believe in the power of creation itself and devote my life to my skills. In good times and bad, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death due us part.”

Always and forever, William:)

Portrait by: Ekua McMorris - RCA (Grad Diploma)

Manic Botanic

So my interest in recyclable materials was ignited here at the RCA in the Graduate Diploma Program. Naturally with my previous degree in glass making I focused on one of the most difficult glasses in the the glass world to work with, bottle glass. This soda lime glass can be quite difficult to work with hot because of its chemical properties of wanting to remain as it is after its’ initial melting of cullet/ raw ingredients and 1st annealing into the form of a bottle. Because I’m the daredevil and glutton for punishment, in this chapter I took on the challenge of turning this waste material into something beautiful, desirable, and almost unrecognizable to its’ previous form.

For the first project in my unit 4 I worked with bottle glass mostly cold. Building on my pre-existing stained glass skills, I experimented with new procedures that over the years I've worked out in my mind, solved on paper, but have never tried before. Using persecco and clear wine bottles (from the trash), all 182 pieces of glass were cut, carved, and hand colored (the 147 flower petals), to form this lighting unit. Truly embracing this challenge, I pivoted and navigated around the numourous engineering complexities as they arose while maintaining a high level of craft. I’ve chosen the Monstera leaf because of its’ intricate and difficult shape and the Water Lily because it isn’t a cliche flower with a lot of petals like a rose. (Also because it’s unique and the mechanics of this flower fits the shapes I can cut from a bottle.) As this was the first time I’ve taken on something quite like this, it allowed me to coin my saying "From garbage to GORGEOUS!"

MB- from underneath

Medium:

Glass bottles

Size:

30cm x 100cm

Emrald City Realness – This project utilized 3D printing using soda bottles and bottle glass hot. I used the emerald green glass because of its' recognizable color. The bottles were cut, some remelted, then hand polished to crystal quality. I chose traditional style because it is the ultimate example of really transforming this waste material. This the body of the chandelier is where the 3d printed plastic was used. All together it forms one of the most universal symbols of luxury and weath but in the 90% of waste materials.

Medium:

beer, wine, and liquor bottles

William Harris

Medium:

Size:

Medium:

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Royal College of Art