Megaplanet by Josh Simpson, 2006
1000th paperweight at the museum, weighing 100lb
at the Corning Museum of Glass
From 7th to 10th October, 2026, a small group of Glass Sellers and partners visited Corning, NY, on a trip organised by Liveryman, Alastair Cormack, Emeritus Professor of Ceramic Science at Alfred University, in the US, and past-Master James Armitage in the UK.
The visit included Corning Inc’s research campus, Sullivan Park, with fascinating insights into their work in developing and applying new glass technologies, Corning Inc’s HQ and their private art glass collection; the Corning Museum of Glass; and then The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY, with their pioneering research and collections.
It proved to be a Master Class in glass, spanning its entire history, with some of the finest examples from its earliest days, right through to its current capabilities and potential for the future, with the latest and leading research.
We were privileged to have first-hand experience of the technical processes, the artistic creation and to handle samples, with the real work in progress at Sullivan Park and the demonstrations at Alfred University and the Corning Museum of Glass, as well as the artists at work at Alfred and the finest examples of the Studio Glass movement at the Museum and the Paul V Gardner Collection at Alfred University.
Corning Inc – Sullivan Park visit – 8th October, 2026
The Sullivan Park Science & Technology Center is set in a 400-acre landscaped park, with some 2,500 employees in 2 million square feet, with more than 800 laboratories and pilot plant operations, which support the 150 Corning sites across the world and its $16bn revenues.
We were taken to watch their glass testing furnaces, which produce some 7-8,000 samples per year, to specified recipes and processes, for all the Corning research labs around the world.
They explained the vertical glass manufacturing fusion draw process, first invented by Corning in the 1960s, but which only came into its own in the 1980s for laptop computers, and which makes ultra-flat, uniform glass ideal for LCD/OLED displays and touchscreens, and which now makes Gorilla Glass, which can be as thin as 0.3mm.
They also told us about the Ion exchange or chemical tempering process to strengthen glass, in which sodium ions in the glass structure are swapped with larger potassium ions, making the glass much stronger and more resistant to scratches and impact, as with modern phone screens.
In the course of our visit, it became clear how Corning’s products underpin every aspect of our lives, from their invention and development of fibre optics for global telecoms and the internet, in data centres, computer chips, phones, and for the aeronautical and automotive industries, with everything from windscreens to catalytic converters.
The Corning Museum of Glass – 8th & 10th October, 2026
We started our visit with a guided tour of the Museum’s art collection, which included some spectacular pieces.
To Die Upon a Kiss chandelier by Fred Wilson – Murano 2011 – with reference to African influences on Venice
The Museum also had the most engaging and instructive displays and interactive pieces on glass technology and uses, from lighthouses and spherical mirrors to telescopes, as well as demonstrations, such as this on Flameworking:
Corning Inc HQ – 8th October, 2026
Later that day, we had a personal tour of the company’s HQ building, designed by the architect, Kevin Roche, with eleven large sculptural glass pieces in the internal sky-lit, black glass-lined atrium spaces, including spectacular pieces such as this:
The “Green Eye of the Pyramid” by Czech artists Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová – made by fusing two glass pyramids together to catch and refract light.
We also saw works by other leading artists, such as Dale Chihuly, and Kosta Boda’s Bertil Vallien’s 4-meter-long sand-cast glass boat sculpture, suspended from the ceiling and hanging over the image of an ancient chariot or burial cart.
Alfred University – 9th October, 2026
Arriving at The New York State College of Ceramics’s Binns Merrill Hall
We began our visit with two of Alastair’s former students, now professors, taking us through their Electron Microscope and X-ray diffraction capabilities, including gallium milling and platinum vapour welding of the thinnest wafers for SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) for semiconductor wafers, down to 5–100 microns thick. They are only one of a few universities in the Western World to offer an undergraduate degree in glass engineering science, probably the only one to offer a Glass Science PhD, and their graduates are understandably in very high demand. They also work with Corning’s research teams who also occasionally use the Alfred University facilities.
We also visited the fibre optics department and had the production process from the 99.9999% pure silica glass “pre-form” explained to us, as well as an entertaining demonstration with a laser and a bucket of water!
We also met some of the students for some hot glass demonstrations:
James Armitage about to successfully break a “Prince Rupert drop” and shower us with glass!
Jazmin Novak, a second-year Mast of Fine Arts (MFA) student of Sculpture Dimensional Studies, gave us a tour of the extensive and most impressive glass and ceramics workshops, studios, and exceptional facilities, introducing her fellow students and their work, which included the Fine Art and Glass & Ceramics Engineering students working jointly on projects.
Jazmin also took us through a number of her pieces, including her Mountain Wolf and Coyote in different stages of completion.
Wax cast by Jazmin Novak, Fine Art student, to be cast in glass and bronze
In the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering Building, we also saw the Paul V Gardner and the Kyocera collections, with Alastair on hand to give us his insights:
Paul V Gardner collection with Associate Professor Doris Möncke taking us through their hands-on samples, such as the glass skeleton of a Deep Sea Sponge and the magnetic properties of pumice and the different types of obsidian, below:
W C Glass Sellers group at the end of our visit to Alfred University:
Leigh & Sheryl Baildham, Alastair Cormack, James and Marian Armitage, Paul Farmiloe and Helen Selka.
Paul Farmiloe – 19/10/26
