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Glassworks (1977)

Amber Films

Glassworks (1977) image
Still from Glassworks, 1977 ©Amber Films

Glassworks (1977)

A documentary film about a Tyneside factory which specialised in handmade industrial glass, from making fine capillary tubes to large carboy containers.
  • Film and Video
  • Industrial
  • Work & Unemployment
  • 1968 – 1979
  • Newcastle upon Tyne
  • UK

Amber Films, 20 mins, 1977

Glassworks explores the work at the factory in Lemington and the ‘loft’ where the refractory pots for the kiln were made. The hand-drawing of glass capillary tubes was a craft which had almost disappeared through mechanisation, but the delicate process was still practised here, where, through the application of hand, eye and lung-power, the skilled craftsmen produced narrow-bore tubes with remarkable accuracy. The film culminates in the dramatic pot-change.

Amber was encouraged to make the film by the industrial historian Stafford Linsley.

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© Amber Films

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