Facts, data, passions:
The Linda Interview
Updated October 2025
Please introduce yourself
My name's Linda Rossiter. I was born in London. I'm a professional glass artist working in the Hard Edge art glass style.
How many awards have you won?
13 awards, starting with a National Gallery 1st Prize when I was sixteen. The remaining awards were picked up during my first career as a Creative Director.
I studied Fine Art, then Graphic design, and finally Computer Graphics at University.
How many glass art works have you sold?
Over 150 artworks of various shapes and sizes, mostly commissions, to customers in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa, plus of course the UK.
Why did you choose glass and not painting or sculpture?
Just look at the colours. They’re so brilliant. Nothing resounds with colour like art glass. Everything else feels too weak or tame or dull, or at least it does to me.
I prefer to see a big piece of well-lit brilliant glass in a cathedral than the Mona Lisa because it has so much more impact - or at least on me :)
What art style do you represent?
The Hard Edge art glass style.
It was a glass artist called Margaret Heenan in Perth, Western Australia who first inspired me. She is the true originator of the Hard Edge art glass style, not me. Margaret’s now retired. I’m carrying the torch for her, and for myself I guess.
How many awards and exhibitions have you been involved with recently?
None, and none. I’ve chosen not to exhibit in public galleries or enter for awards. It’s not necessary, when I can gain enough viewings online, where everyone joins in, judging me daily in a much more natural way!
I find people like what they see, and want to see more. They take one look at my colours and click!
I think online is the new way in which art is evaluated. The data from the Your Art Opinion questionnaires I run increasingly supports this view.
I much prefer my Make & Share approach of asking people their opinions every day and holding regular questionnaires, compared to the ordeal, expense and distraction of submitting work to a distant panel of art judges and critics, who I know nothing of!
Daily viewings and comments is the People’s Vote.
This is where I hear what art lovers really think. It's based on ongoing daily conversation and not a distracting one-off event.
What’s the number one experience you want your audience to feel when looking at your work?
Joy. Wonder. Desire to own it. I never cease to marvel at the play of colour and light that glass art shines with. It brings happiness to my heart, makes me feel good.
I always try to be a happy person, and I want this to come out in all the work I do. I never do miserable or dark kind of works. Too much art is dull, even when it’s fine work.
When I see bright finished glassworks it does something good for me inside. I feel gloriously uplifted, and hopefully my audience will too.
My most popular reels on Instagram are where I'm opening the kiln for the first time to see a piece of fused glass. I love this kiln moment. The comments I get are often as much about my smile as the artwork :)
What’s it like doing commissions?
I love it.
I see it as part of my Make & Share philosophy, where a customer shares their ideas and feelings with me to realise their dream, special memory or special moment.
To guarantee all my commissions are properly authenticated, each collector is given a beautiful hardback book illustrating each stage of their artwork's production.
While customers love receiving the book, it also makes sure there'll never be any doubt over future provenance issues. This is becoming increasingly important in an age of knock-offs, copies and fakes.
"Opening the kiln" videos from Instagram
Where do you get your ideas from?
I'm a very visual person. I see the colours and geometry in everything I look at, everywhere I go - in architecture, plants, signs, interiors, skylines, rooftops, bridges, reflections, a pile of paper on my desk - everything.
So from seeing Porticos in Bologna, I created arched bowls.
After visiting glasshouses across Europe, I designed "Orangerie".
I take hundreds of photographs, trying to record as much as I can.
And these photos become my inspiration - reference material for future projects.
A visit to Manchester Art Gallery inspired me to create "Stairs" ... I hadn't gone to the gallery to look at the staircase, but it had a massive effect on me :)
"Stairs" glass art in production - you can see the central spiral staircase developing in pieces of blue art glass.
Your work is complex. How many pieces of cut glass go into a large work?
430 at the latest count. The pieces are all different, all with different colours, transparencies and degrees of brilliance. I have a working palette of about 90 colours, and I’ll likely use up to 50 in any one piece.
I see my works getting more and more involved, with more and more pieces, and I love it. There’s no limit!
It must be challenging to maintain such precision and control in your glasswork. How do you do it?
Never accept second best. Do it again until it’s right, like for example, a poor cut that doesn’t quite fit, or replacing a piece where the colour isn’t quite perfect. I know when something is wrong, and I can't tolerate it!
So I’m painstaking beyond belief. But this doesn’t drive me crazy. It makes me feel satisfied, content that it's right.
Can you explain the techniques you use to achieve the sharp lines and geometric precision in your glasswork
Once I saw Margaret Heenan’s Hard Edge work I quickly got the idea and worked it out for myself. It’s all been self-developed since then. I’m lucky to naturally have the glass working skills and dexterity necessary to create the images I see in my head and all the vivid colour feelings that go with it.
I’ve been cutting glass for a long time - for many years I did leaded glass and copper foil stained glass work. But it was always full of those dark lines of solder, like a church window.
My Hard Edge fused glass style keeps the lines and the hard edges without all the solder lines getting in the way. Stained glass without the lines!
Fused glass without the fuzzy look. That’s me :)
Also - I don’t paint on the glass, or layer it or change it's colour in any way. I just accurately cut the different pieces of coloured art glass to produce whatever details are needed.
How do you ensure the quality and durability of your art, especially for collectors who invest in high-value pieces?
Methodology. Simple. The glass itself is long lasting. Correctly produced fused glass art is as robust as window glass.
Look after it - place it well, and the glass will last longer than you will :)
What’s a particularly challenging or rewarding piece you've created?
I love Abundance, a recent roundel. It was more difficult and involved than anything I’d done previously.
Almost all of it is curves - I wanted the petals to really flow in an organic way.
I also created small glass miniatures on stands to complement the larger main Abundance piece, which is a new idea in glass art I’m interested in - new ways to display the glass to its best.
Just because they're small, doesn't make them any less complicated!
But I like them all, everything I do, with each one more and more complex. Painstaking work!
Takes ages but I think it’s always worth it.
Where do you see the future of Hard Edge glass art going? How do you fit into this?
Glass art is booming generally. Hard Edge glass art is a distinct recognisable style that people like.
I like being a pioneer in the style.
Generally I don’t look at other peoples’ work much. I’m too busy doing my own.
If I’m not doing Hard Edge art glass I feel I’m wasting my time.
What’s your message to someone seeing Hard Edge glass for the first time?
Just look at it. It speaks for itself. It’ll make you feel happy!
