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Master Glassmaker Ian Hankey pilots innovative technique to upcycle post-consumer glass
Wednesday, 3 September, 2025 — Master glassmaker Ian Hankey pilots new technique on Dartmoor to upcycle waste window glass with bio ash, creating a model for circular glassmaking.
Master glassmaker and innovator Ian Hankey, Principal Technician at Arts University Plymouth’s Fab Lab South West, has led pilot trials on Brimpts Farm in Dartmoor that turn end of life window glass into new artisanal work, using ash from the farm’s biomass system and other bio waste.
<p dir="ltr">Ian designed and built the specialised small-scale equipment to produce the first test pieces on site. Dr Sarah Fearn at Imperial College London is analysing the first test pieces to assess their material composition and structural stability, informing the durability and further development of the technique.</p>
<p dir="ltr">These results mark a major step in answering the question that first drove Ian to <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/posts/launching-the-upcycled-glass-company-in-south-devon">establish the </a><strong><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/posts/launching-the-upcycled-glass-company-in-south-devon">Upcycled Glass Company CIC</a></strong> in 2021: could local waste flat glass, normally landfilled or downcycled, be transformed into high quality, usable material through sustainable methods? Thanks to a successful Crowdfunder campaign that raised over £10,000, Ian built a small glassblowing workshop on Brimpts Farm and began to test this idea in practice. Three years later, these pilot demonstrations stand as evidence of that original vision becoming reality.<br /></p>
Bauble made by Ian Hankey from end-of-life building glass
<p dir="ltr">Waste window and building glass is a global problem because it is difficult to recycle for use as new panes. In Europe, only a small fraction of this flat glass is remade into new flat products, with most either downcycled into lower grade uses or sent to landfill. At the same time, international research projects such as Penn State’s LionGlass are showing that re-engineered chemistries can lower melting temperatures and cut emissions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ian’s farm-based pilot further complements this global research by exploring whether waste derived bio ash can act as an effective melting aid (known in the industry as a ‘flux’), lowering furnace temperatures by around five hundred degrees Celsius and creating value from local waste streams. The candlesticks and test pieces made on Dartmoor are proof that a small-scale, circular production glassworks can be viable.<br /></p>
Created from end-of-life building glass by Ian Hankey
These pilot tests indicate that locally-sourced bio ash can act as an effective flux for end-of-life window glass. By lowering furnace operating temperatures by around five hundred degrees, and using waste stream materials as colourants and modifiers, we’ve produced the first examples of viable glass upcycling, demonstrating a blueprint for the small-scale circular production of glass, in this case on a working farm.
Ian Hankey, Principal Technician at Fab Lab South West
<p>The pioneering process forms part of the <a href="https://upcycled-glass.co.uk/">Upcycled Glass Company CIC</a>’s model for sustainable craft production. Waste inputs such as post-consumer flat glass, surplus coloured glass from local studio Teign Valley Glass, and plant ash from the farm’s biomass system were combined in small furnaces to produce refined recycled glass chips (cullet) and finished artisanal works. Future phases will explore low-carbon energy from on-farm anaerobic digestion and compact CO₂ capture-and-reuse units, extending the closed loop approach (one that forms a continuous production cycle that conserves resources and reduces waste). Ian has already <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/posts/innovative-brewery-collaborates-with-plymouth-college-of-art-team-to-capture-and-reuse-co2">trialled compact CO2 capture</a> for microbreweries in collaboration with Barnaby’s Brewhouse, supported through the <strong>Impact Lab</strong> with Arts University Plymouth. Adapting this technology for furnaces could further enhance sustainability.</p>
Ian's upcycled glass workshop
<p>By linking a working farm’s bio resources with Ian’s technical expertise, informed by decades of craft engineering and innovation, the project explores how small enterprises might reconfigure glassmaking as a low energy, locally integrated practice.</p>
<p>Ian’s work on Dartmoor builds on four decades of technical innovation. His career began with an apprenticeship at Pilkington Glass and went on to include leading roles at the Royal College of Art, Teign Valley Glass Studios, and the establishment of <strong>Fab Lab South West</strong> at Arts University Plymouth. Alongside teaching and supporting students, he has consistently developed new approaches that connect heritage craft with sustainable technologies.</p>
Ian Hankey teaching in Fab Lab South West
<p>A defining feature of Ian’s career has been his ability to translate deep tacit skills into new forms of practice. He has worked with leading scientists and conservators on the corrosion of historic Venetian glass, contributing to research at Imperial College London and the V&A by producing replica glasses that could withstand experimental testing. Working with Dr Sarah Fearn, Ian not only advanced understanding of historical glassmaking processes but also helped to develop a treatment to stabilise fragile pieces, described as a cure for “glass disease”. Fragments from these experiments were later sent to Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where the innovative conservation process was replicated.</p>
Ian Hankey upcycling glass
<p dir="ltr">Building on this heritage-to-innovation approach, Ian has pioneered the development of sustainable studio equipment. Among his contributions are the design of portable “switch off” furnaces, reported to cut studio glass energy use by up to 70% compared with conventional furnaces that run continuously. He has also integrated digital fabrication tools such as CAD/CAM (computer aided design and manufacture), 3D printing and CNC machining into hot glass practice, ensuring students and collaborators can experiment at the forefront of design and technology.</p>
<p>His work extends to collaborations across the creative industries. For example, he <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/posts/glass-with-an-address-an-address-to-a-beach-by-abigail-reynolds">created kelp ash glass</a> for artist <strong>Abigail Reynolds</strong>, produced in a beach side furnace built and operated by Hankey. The resulting film <em>Flux</em> won the <strong>Glass Art Society 2021 Green Exhibition Award</strong>. More recently, he has been a lead collaborator with Barnaby’s Brewhouse in Devon, designing and prototyping a compact CO₂ capture and reuse system for microbreweries. Developed through the <strong>Impact Lab</strong> in partnership with Arts University Plymouth, the system uses 3D printed and hot glass components to filter and reuse fermentation gases. Ian also engineered a water recapture system that enables continuous reuse of cooling water, designed with small and medium-sized glassworks in mind. Together, these innovations form part of the Upcycled Glass Company’s sustainable planning model and demonstrate the potential for environmentally responsible practice across craft and industry.</p>
<p>This pilot demonstrates what can be achieved when deep craft knowledge is combined with ecological purpose and systems thinking. More than a skilled maker, Ian has engineered every stage of this innovation, from rethinking the chemistry of recycled glass to designing low-energy equipment and building the collaborative infrastructure to test it in the field. His work shows how material challenges can be tackled not just in theory, but in practice, through creative leadership grounded in place. In proving that waste flat glass can be upcycled into new craft products with dramatically reduced emissions, Ian has set a precedent for circular making that is both locally rooted and globally relevant.</p>
Collection made from end-of-life building glass
<p><strong>Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design and Media at Arts University Plymouth</strong>, said: “Ian Hankey’s innovation demonstrates how collaborations between material science and creative practice can offer meaningful approaches to the many environmental challenges we face. At Arts University Plymouth we encourage students to explore exactly this kind of boundary-crossing innovation, working with emerging technologies, experimenting with sustainable materials, and thinking more broadly about how traditional craft processes can be applied. Projects like this show prospective students the many unique opportunities available here to engage in research that is both imaginative and impactful.”</p>
