Bibi Smit

Bibi Smit (b. 1965) is a Dutch glass artist and designer. Her work explores the patterns, rhythms and colours of movement in nature. Her creative process is focused on the relationship between natural phenomena and the fluidity of hot glass, original experimentation, and craftsmanship at making. By being able to control all processes, both in the hotshop and coldshop, her work shows an acute attention to detail and technique. Her glassblowing studio and atelier is established in the Netherlands.

Smit grew up in the Netherlands and moved to England to study glass at the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, England. She did an internship with Willem Heesen, at De Oude Horn in Leerdam, The Netherlands. In 1988, she received her Bachelor of Art (honours) and became a glass assistant of Annica Sandstrom and David Kaplan at Lindean Mill Glass in Scotland. Since her early career, she lectured in European studios and at the Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Sunderland. In 2003, Smit received an Artist in Residency Award at North Lands Creative in Scotland. In 2004, she was invited to take part in the 7th International Glass Symposium in Germany, and attended a workshop with Boyd Sugiki at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle. She is a member of the Glass Art Society. ​In 2019, the documentary Moving Glass was selected for the North Lands Creative Film Festival. The Glassmaker episode from a World of Calm Series streaming at HBO Max, is a poetic narrative of her work and the power of nature. She lives and works in the Netherlands, since 2006.

PUBLIC and PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
National Museums of Scotland, Great Britain 
Nationaal Glasmuseum Leerdam, NL
Museum Jan (formally named Museum Jan van der Togt), Amstelveen, NL
NN Group Art Collection, The Netherlands
L.R. Crystal, Glassmuseum, Lednické Rovne, Slovak Republic 
Dan Klein & Alan J. Poole (Private Collection of Glass)​
Collection North Lands Creative Glass, Lybster, Scotland 
Museum für Glaskunst, Lauscha, Germany
Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting-Stiftung, Coesfeld, Germany