Chihuly’s Poetic Persians

Chihuly describes his Persians as poetic experimental glass forms – an exploration of form, shape and color with asymmetrical swirling patterns. He used his translucent Persian floriforms to great effect for large scale wall installations like the one at WMODA, which was formerly at the Postrio restaurant in San Francisco owned by Wolfgang Puck.

The Chihuly Persian wall installation was the pride of the garden room at Postrio from 1996 until 2009. Chihuly’s spontaneous paintings also adorned the restaurant walls, two of which are now on display in the museum. The ‘wall’ consists of 13 Persians on a bronze framework at the entrance to the Hot Glass gallery and it is a popular selfie spot for visitors.

Chihuly also made Persian table top compositions comprising several thinly blown glass forms with undulating herringbone style patterns. Over the years these evolved into his Seaforms, evoking seashells, waves and other marine motifs.