Commitment to the craft has made him a highly respected and award-winning artist, craftsman, and designer, specialising in bespoke handblown glass.
Stewart Hearn says he has often neglected the expression of creative freedom in his development as a glassmaker. Striving for a practice that was defined by skill, the understanding of the material and the domination and control of its fluid language. However, since moving from London to Cambridgeshire he has allowed himself to be less inhibited with his design concepts, giving the glass more liberty, which is particularly noticeable in his larger pieces.
His inspiration comes from the constantly changing hues in the Fenland landscape. This attention to colour, forms an integral part of his work. He demonstrates powerful and nuanced insights in his colour decisions, combined with seemingly understated forms requiring great craftsmanship and risk taking.
His preoccupation with the essential properties of glass; using weight, clarity, surface manipulation and the heat from the furnace, to combine and encourage optical and physical distortion in his forms, exemplify his years of glassmaking and focus. Ultimately it is very important to him that he celebrates the value of traditional glassmaking skills and creates quality glass, knowledge that he readily passes on to his assistants.