Liuli is the ancient Chines word for glass work/art. This 'museum' was founded by the Chinese actor Loretta Yang and her partner Chang Yi. Amid a hugely successful movie career (acting in over 124 movies) on one of her film sets "This kind of Love" she was exposed her to an elaborate contemporary and antique glass collection. Both partners noticed there was no Chinese crystal represented just French and Czechoslovakian .... a passion was born. Loretta and Chang changed careers completely and studied to become glass artists. They have become hugely successful presenting their first exhibition in 1987 in Taiwan and 1995 in Shanghai. They now have seventy-one galleries worldwide and are represented in collections around the globe.
The building is sheathed in a stainless steel installation called This Peony Will Bloom II, for the Chinese the peony represents riches and honour. Consisting of 5,025 steel petals the piece extends over 64 metres in width and is very inventive.
The cafe at the entry continued the duck theme with amusement.
The glass exhibition was very specific with my limited glass and Buddhist knowlege.
The lighting on the stairs up to the museum displays was fun and the washroom sinks were very smart.
I'm really still more into interior design it would seem but, some of Loretta's latest work is very beautiful
and could certainly be stunning when properly displayed in an interior. (photographs of pieces from
the site www.liuili.com)
