Virginia Wilson Toccalino

Tony Toccalino

Testimonials

Blown Glass Designer Glass Cupcake

My daughter, a pastry chef, LOVED it!

Natalie

Hand Blown New Lightning Rod Glass Ball, Weathervane Ball

Simply amazing hand blown glass lightning rod balls, fabulous artistry. Packed and shipped securely and right on time. Will be back for more. Thank you Virginia, you are a talented and unique artist.

Sam

Handblown Artglass Filigree Glass Icicles    

These were truly beautiful. My order came very quickly and were carefully packaged.

Christine

Signature Products

Virginia Wilson Toccalino is a Milton, Ontario-based artist who completed the Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design 3 year glass program in 1996.  Virginia and her husband Tony work together specializing in filigree glass techniques mastered by Venetians over 500 years ago.  These glass blowing methods were held as closely guarded secrets for centuries, incorporating simple and complex glass cane as the decorative medium on her forms.

“As a child growing up in a rural setting, the neighboring natural elements awed and inspired my young imagination.  Now, as then, the colours, shapes and patterns of creation subtly inform my work.  Given my very early background in textiles, I now create linear and threadlike patterns on complex and shimmering works of glass”.

Virginia’s glass has been exhibited widely in both juried and invitation only exhibitions across Canada and the United States.  Her work is represented in private and public collections throughout North America and abroad.  Most notably, selections of her work are housed at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada, the Claridge Collection in Montreal, Canada and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

My filigree glass rods have been compared to strands of DNA, the building blocks of life itself.  In that context, my glass art reflects the strength and fragility of nature’s works.  I am fascinated by the parallel between glass and the delicate balance of life on earth, which in both cases possess an eternal quality that can easily be shattered.”

See Us In Action! Watch the videos below.

The film crew from the Discovery Channel show How It’s Made visited our glass studio early 2010 and filmed two segments on our specialized ancient glass making techniques. The first segment is on Filigree Glass. Filigree glass is a highly advanced form of glassmaking. First we produce threads of coloured glass, then we weave these magnificent threads together, in intricate patterns, encase them within clear crystal, then known as complex canes. See how we use very skilled glass making techniques to shape these patterned rods into breathtaking works of art!