František Jungvirt
František Jungvirt (b. 1996) is a contemporary Czech glass artist and glass painter based in Prague, whose practice bridges Bohemian glass heritage with an explicitly current visual language. He is a graduate of the glass studio at Prague’s UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design), where he studied under sculptor Rony Plesl, and he also trained in artistic glass processing with a specialisation in glass painting.
Jungvirt’s work is distinguished by a rare combination of techniques: he moves fluently between classic and experimental glass painting and enamelling, detailed hand work, and contemporary interventions such as airbrushing; he has also developed special paints that do not require kiln firing and can be fluorescent. His objects frequently amplify the expressive role of colour—treating pigment, surface, and motif as active agents that transform the perception of the glass form—while maintaining a high level of craftsmanship and finish. His technique often involves working directly on blown or cut crystal forms, allowing the dialogue between pigment and optical material to become a central visual experience, where transparency, reflection, and colour intensity interact dynamically.
A key aspect of his artistic approach is the way he re-contextualises traditional Czech glass vocabulary through contemporary gesture. In the Made by Fire project presented at Triennale Milano (2023), for example, he juxtaposes historic engraving and luxury craft with bold, unpredictable layers of sprayed colour—using the collision of slow, meticulous technique and fast contemporary action to shift a crafted object into the register of a work of art. Similar works have been presented in international design and art contexts in Milan, Paris, and other European exhibition platforms dedicated to contemporary glass and material art, where his work is frequently cited as part of a new generation redefining Czech glass expression.
His work has been shown internationally, including in Milan, and is represented in major Czech public collections such as the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno, among others. Through this combination of technical mastery, experimental surface treatment, and conceptual clarity, Jungvirt occupies a distinctive position within the current scene of contemporary glass art, where tradition is not preserved but actively transformed.