Vlastimil Habart

Without any ancestral ties to glassmaking, Vlastimil first chose to pursue the craft after touring the Moser glassworks with his family as a boy. He graduated from the Ceramics and Glassmaking Secondary Vocational School in Karlovy Vary. He began working at Moser in 2002, where he spent fifteen years under the tutelage of glassmaking master Milan Man, his highest-ranking mentor. He also learned a lot from Zdeněk Drobný, recipient of the prestigious title of Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, who entrusted him with the art of large vase making before retiring. Thus, Vlastimil became his successor. And just like Zdeněk, he too can create these highly challenging pieces, requiring both artistic skill and good physical condition, given the position demands great strength and expansive lung capacity. Currently, Vlastimil Habart is the only glassmaker capable of shaping the most demanding products with his own breath: the vases and bowls in the Abyss Family Collection. When making them, he has to hold up more than twelve kilograms of molten glass at the end of the blowpipe. He continues to greatly enjoy his work and looks forward to every challenge. His collaboration with designer Lukáš Jabůrek went off without a hitch, and the same can be said today with Jan Plecháč.