Creative Planet - Sadika, Glass Artist

[WIPO Magazine - July/August 2003, pages 16-17]

Sadika Kamoun, a Tunisian glass artist, lights up the screen in the second film from Creative Planet (see WIPO Magazine May/June 2003), a series produced by WIPO to explore the work and motivations of creative artists and innovators. This soft-spoken woman conveys a deep passion for her work and creations in simple, clear expressions. Her words describe her art and demonstrate the close relationship between an artist and her creation.

Sadika's works, sold out of her workshop in Tunis, have been exhibited in galleries and exhibitions in Europe and around the world. Sadika tries to transmit the love of her art through the delicate beauty of her works, so that those who purchase them will enjoy them as she enjoys making them. It is arduous and tiring work - a glass blower's oven must be on 24 hours a day throughout the year - but as Sadika's words explain below, for her it is a labor of love.

On her medium

Glass is a living matter, especially when you shape it. Of course, since glass is a transparent, delicate matter, it can break within a second. But at the same time, you need strength to shape it. Shaping glass is a difficult job, it's true, because you have to work in a very hot environment. But when you're passionate - I mean, when you really love your job - you cannot get away from it. I chose glass because it is, beyond any doubt, the material that most helps me communicate my feelings.

On the heritage of glass

The history of glass is a very rich one, and almost as old as man's history, I would say. Creation cannot start from nothing, it's impossible. Everyone has to work using existing matter, things from their heritage, traditional forms - even though we evolve in a contemporary world.

Sometimes, an artist's ambition is to achieve what nobody else has ever achieved. His contemporary world is not enough, which is why his imagination pushes him towards what is yet to come.

On the act of creation

The artist himself when he undertakes a piece of work doesn't know where it will take him. But sometimes, certain elements help him achieve something, and it can take just a second, then it goes away just as quickly. That's why creation is such a difficult and stringent process - it really is. I sometimes wait till the children are asleep, till it's all quiet, till the circumstances are favorable, to think about certain things, write, make drawings, go back to some of my old ideas, conceive a technique and develop it - for the day after, if it's possible.

Every time I go to my studio, I'm in a festive mood, I feel happy. I'm always happy in my studio, because my whole life is there. Anything that keeps me away from it worries me and even makes me a bit tired. Creativity is life. I'd rather die than become unable to create. It is passion. I mean that when you really love your job, you cannot forsake it. It is like your own child: you cannot forsake your own child.

I think that as an artist, my dream is to devote every minute of my life to creation and creativity.

On her works

The most important thing to me is that I end up creating a beautiful piece of work, an object filled with beauty. So long as an object is beautiful, it becomes a work of art. Of course, when you create a functional object, you don't know whether people appreciate it for its beauty or for its usefulness. For instance, when people see a chandelier, they say: "Wow, it's beautiful!" They don't say: "Wow, it gives a good light!" And I think it's an instinctive reaction. The beauty of an object outmatches its functionality.

On the concept of protecting works

I started signing my works in order to protect myself. Protecting artistic works and creations is the most difficult thing.

If your work is copied by other people, it's as if you were creating things within a school. If those who copy your work do it moved by a new kind of creativity, in schools or universities, for the purpose of developing your original idea and taking it further, then it's great. But if they copy your work for purely materialistic and commercial reasons, then it's worrying, because they lessen your vital resources and deprive you of the means which enable you to keep creating.

It's true - my works end up in the hands of people I don't know at all. But I'd like to tell them that I experienced lots of sensations while creating those works. In each of the objects I create, I put a piece of myself. I hope people feel for my works the same sensations I felt while creating them. If somebody can experience and develop that feeling, then I'll be satisfied