Balázs Telegdi (Hungary)

Balázs Telegdi is a Hungarian glass artist who draws inspiration from the material qualities of glass. His works are a conversation between the maker and the material as he looks for less known or unexpected responses from this molten mass. He believes that despite the long history of glass art, there is always something new to be discovered. His works always start out as material experiments where he looks for nuanced details or grand phenomena that could be turned into the core of the new artwork.

The unadvised, forbidden, or to-be-avoided, are aspects Balázs searches for. He uses these unwanted qualities of glass as core values of his works, questioning the validity of such advises, reflecting on the creativity that can be achieved when these walls are demolished. In his search for new expressions, he often finds himself building machines, or testing something that has a potential of brutally failing.

He believes that failure or mistakes and critical thinking together are essential for innovative ideas like re-purposing an old technique, or inventing a new one. Most of his works emerged from mistakes he made and then embraced.

He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Glass Design from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest in 2016, and another Bachelor’s Degree in Glass Art from the Royal Danish Academy in 2020.

His works have been exhibited internationally at such institutes and events as The Venice Glass Week – Ateneo Veneto, Museum of Applied Arts of Beograd, London Glassblowing Gallery, St. Stephan’s Basilica – Budapest, the Kunsthalle Budapest, the Prague Castle and Glassmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark. He has received grants from MMA – Academy of Art of Hungary, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Design Grant, Kozma Lajos Grant and The Danish Art Fund. He has won the 1st place of Stanislav Libensky Award 2021, and 2nd place (4 way tie) at the TRACE 2024: GAS Green Exhibition. He has completed artist residencies at The Corning Museum of Glass in 2023, and at Bucharest National University of Arts in 2024. He was invited for a live glassblowing demonstration at Blowfish Gallery during the British Glass Biennale, and he got awarded a demo slot at the 2025 GAS Conference in Texas.