An exhibition showing the finalists for the international glass design award, the Bombay Sapphire Prize 2005, has opened at the Lighthouse in Glasgow.

The exhibition includes the winner of the 2005 prize, a short film called Roker Breakfast, by glass artist Ann Brodie and fellow artists Ruth Dupré and Louise Gilbert Scott.  The work is named after the Roker Hotel in Sunderland where they stayed when they were making the film at the National Glass Centre.  Explaining their film they say it “celebrates the theatricality of glassmaking, which normally takes second place behind the finished object".

The £20,000 Bombay Sapphire Prize was launched by the Bombay Sapphire Foundation in 2001 to spotlight the creativity and expertise of artists, designers and architects working in glass.

One of the finalists is Scottish glass artist Jessica Townsend, who has just completed a Masters degree at Edinburgh College of Art.  Her work, Homage to the Implant, is a wall installation of blown glass in pairs of similarly sized breast shapes hung on metal shop fittings which mirror the way shops display bras.   Each pair grows in size to emphasise the differences between people.  She explains they “naturally appear new and shiny giving the impression of being able to buy 'the perfect pair' thus commenting on our consumer society”.

The Bombay Sapphire Blue Room is on at the Lighthouse, 11 Mitchell Lane, Glasgow G1 3NU from 24 January until 8 March 2006.  Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 10.30am to 5pm (opens 11am on Tuesdays) and Sunday 12 noon until 5pm.  Individual tickets giving access to all areas of the building cost £3 for adults and from £1 for concessions and children. 

For further information on the other finalists visit the Bombay Sapphire website.