Vase Petr Hora, 1996

Contemporary Czech glass has had a strong influence on the studio art glass movement worldwide. Pioneers such as Stanislav Libensky, who came into prominence in the late 1940s, trained the next generation of artists in cast glass for small and large-scale sculpture. Petr Hora began his studies in 1965 at the Applied College of Glass-making in Zelezny Brod, where Libensky acted as Director. In 1971, after his studies at the Glass-making School near Trebon, Hora began working at the Beranek glass factory in Skrdlovice. Hora advanced with the company, and in 1987 he became the Director. Because of the political changes in Czechoslovakia in 1992, all the factories that had been taken over by the government were returned to the original owners. This event was the catalyst for Hora’s establishment of his own studio.