Glass Sellers elect Honorary Liverymen
In recognition of their contributions to glass, the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London has elected industry stalwarts Professor Alicia Duran and Professor John M. Parker as Honorary Liverymen of the Company.
Professor Duran, a Research Professor for the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, and Professor Parker from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, were both instrumental in the United Nations designating 2022 as the International Year of Glass and the successful IYOG proceedings since. Professor Duran was named ‘Glass Person of the Year’ in 2019 as the 49th recipient of the Phoenix Award and more recently received the 2022 Otto Schott Research Award. Professor Parker is actively involved in the International Commission on Glass and is past president of both the European Society of Glass Science and Technology (ESG) and the Society of Glass Technology (SGT). Current SGT president and FIC CEO Stuart Hakes also recently became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers.
Further celebrating IYOG, Glass Sellers has partnered with the Primary Science Teaching Trust to launch a design competition as part of the PSTT’s 'bringing back glass into the primary classroom' initiative.
UK primary school children are being invited to design a glass object that could be useful in a science classroom and winners will be decided by a panel of judges selected by the PSTT and the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London. Closing date is 7 October and one of the judges will be glass artist Allister Malcolm.
The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London received its Charter in 1664. Initially founded to regulate the Glass Selling and Pot-Making industries within the City of London, the role of the livery company today is to stimulate interest in glass in all its aspects and carry out charitable works, with special emphasis on education. Glass Worldwide is official journal of Glass Sellers.
The Company’s Glass in Society project aims to introduce teachers and school children to glass, glass technology, its uses and behaviour, as well as frequently to bring an understanding of composite technology into their education for the first time. The project allows students to earn a Crest Award, which is a national accreditation scheme designed to recognise achievement in science and technology.
Image: New honorary Liverymen John Parker (left) and Alicia Duran (second right) with Janine Christley (Director of Fundraising, Ruskin Mill Trust and Festival Director, International Festival of Glass) and Paul A. Wenham (Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London).
