Ten guests, ten different perspectives on a single shared material. PechaKucha Night Liberec vol. 21, taking place on Tuesday 25 August at the Vratislavice 101010 Cultural Centre, will showcase creators who have dedicated their professional lives to glass.

PechaKucha Night, subtitled ‘United by Glass’, will form part of Crystal Valley Week for the fifth time. The country’s largest festival of glass, jewellery and costume jewellery will transform Liberec from 24 to 29 August into a city of exhibitions, workshops and live craftsmanship. This year’s theme, ‘Connecting Cultures’, will present glass as a medium capable of bringing together countries, cultures and different perspectives on artistic creation.

Speakers are given a time slot framed by the traditional sequence of 20 photographs, each shown for 20 seconds. Each speaker must therefore condense their story, work, achievements and mishaps – which usually remain hidden within the glass – into six minutes and forty seconds. The audience will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

“PechaKucha Night is one of those evenings that adds another dimension to the festival. Here, the audience primarily sees not the artworks and installations, but the people behind them. They get to know how they think and what stories lie behind their work,” says Květa Vinklátová, Deputy Governor of the Liberec Region for Culture and Tourism.

The event is organised by the LBC Kolektiv association and the Regional Development Agency in collaboration with the Liberec Region.

The oldest glassmaking school, Africa and contemporary design

Emil Kováč will take to the stage; he has worked for glass studios around the world, helped establish several studios in South Africa and taught design at a university in Pretoria. His work will also be showcased during Crystal Valley Week at the BohemiAfrika 4.0 exhibition. Wesley Neal Rasko, who came to the Czech Republic from Canada in the late 1990s, will also speak about his long journeys in pursuit of glass. He combines fused and sheet glass with optical crystal and natural materials to create striking spatial installations.

Jakub Jelínek, director of the glassmaking school in Kamenický Šenov, which is celebrating its 170th anniversary this year, will mark this significant milestone. He will showcase both the history and the present day of the institution, which has nurtured generations of artists across various glassmaking professions.

Kateřina Handlová, who focuses on her own projects whilst also working for the brands Bomma and Rückl, will present her work centred on lighting and glass design. Olga Staňková will focus on blown and hand-painted glass, a craft she has long been dedicated to in both the Czech Republic and abroad. The trio will be joined by Magdalena Kracík Štorkánová, creator of monumental architectural mosaics, who is also involved in the documentation, conservation and restoration of historic mosaics.

A family background in glassmaking links the other two speakers at PechaKucha Night. Ondřej Novotný works at the Novotný Glass glassworks in Nový Bor, and his own creative work focuses on purity and minimalism. David Valner grew up in a family of glassmakers and founded his own studio, where he creates both functional items and art objects. He particularly enjoys experimenting with techniques and form.

The list of announced speakers is rounded off by Lukáš Jabůrek, who, over the course of eleven years at the Moser glassworks, rose to the prestigious position of artistic director and has played a significant role in the company’s current creative output. Today he runs his own studio and, during Crystal Valley Week, will also be featured in the exhibition ‘Nature in Glass, Glass in Nature’ at the Liberec Botanical Garden. A representative from the architectural studio Mjölk, which has long been associated with PechaKucha Night Liberec, will also be taking to the stage.

PechaKucha Night Liberec vol. 21: United by Glass will begin on Tuesday 25 August 2026 at 7 pm at the Vratislavice 101010 Cultural Centre. Tickets costing 290 Kč can be purchased via the eVstupenka portal.