Yekenda: Nasuf Jomert is a classic trained glass blower who dedicated his life to twisting
glass into beautiful shapes. He specializes in traditional Turkish designs like the
evil eye which is believed to ward off evil spirits and bring joy and security.
Nasuf: I started blowing glass in 1970. I studied at the conservatory and got trained by a
well known teacher in Switzerland called Roberto. The evil eye bead comes from
the Ottoman Empire into something very traditional. The oldest glass was the evil
eye bead.
Yekenda: Nasuf demonstrates the making of the traditional Ottoman glass called the Chesmi
Vulble or simply nightingale’s eye.
Nasuf: This glass I’m using is called a soda lime glass, I have to stay the onset. This is a
very difficult type of glass to work with. What I’m making here is called Chesmi
Vulble, this type of glass is one of the most significant glasses from the Ottoman
art.
Chesmi Vulble means a nightingale’s eye. Right now I am putting white lines on
it but more important is adding the blue line inside. There is the legend that the
original blue sticks use to make this lines during the Ottoman Empire were
actually very poisonous, it was detrimental to people’s health. Some people say
that the Chesmi Vulble at the top cup of palace still had blood on it which
occurred when the makers were blowing glass.
As you can see this is the beginning of making a Chesmi Vulble. When you are
blowing it you have to be very careful not to mix the white and blue lines together
and the hardest part is trying to make lines go from the very top to the very
bottom.
You can see that they all roll up eventually and that every single line goes to the
bottom without getting mix with the others. The only reason why the scatter
named nightingale’s eye is because a nightingale eye also swirls from one point to
the next like the lines on this glass.
Yekenda: Glass never seizes to amaze, so soft and malleable when it’s hot yet breakable and
vulnerable when cools. Even still glass blowing artist like Nasuf Jomert continue
to push the boundaries.