Tanja Pak achieved a master’s degree in art at the Royal College of Art, having graduated in industrial design from the Academy of Fine Art of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she is now full professor, heading Glass and Ceramics department.
She is creatively committed to sculpture, artistic spatial installations and design of functional glass objects.
She won artist residencies in studios and museums around the world, including The Corning Museum of Glass, Creative Glass Center of America, Pilchuck and Musée du Verre in France. She exhibits worldwide.
She has received many international art and design awards, among them two Red Dot Honourable Mention and Arte Laguna special prize. Her work has been selected for the New Glass Review four times, and was among many important glass competition finalists, such as Kanazawa International Exhibition, European Glass Context and other juried exhibitions.
In her recent art works, Tanja has been delving into feelings of solitude, loneliness of the individual's inner world. She has been exposing the search for closeness, the fragile nature of interpersonal bonds and relationships, relating the flimsiness of our unity in the face of indivisibility when it comes to our integral whole.
She works in her studio in Ljubljana.
Education
Royal College of Art, London
Master of Arts, MA (Ceramics and Glass)
Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University in Ljubljana
BFA in Industrial Design
Awards and Residencies
Full professorship, 2014
Red Dot Honorable Mention Design Award 2009
Red Dot Honorable Mention Design Award 2008
Designer of the Year 2011, Sl
New Glass Review 37, 2016
New Glass Review 35, 2014
New Glass Review 33, 2012
New Glass Review 29, 2008
Arte Laguna Prize 2021 finalist
Selection of Design Excellence, Made in Slovenia, 2021
Maradiva / Arte Laguna Special Prize 2019, Mauritius, 2019 (award and residency)
Arte Laguna Prize 2020 finalist
Art residency in MusVerre, Sars-Poteries, FR, 2018 (commencing exhibition on 2020)
Receiver of the atelier in Švicarija Creative Center in Ljubljana for the period of five years, SI, 2017
Cill Rialaigh residency, Transartist project, IE, 2019
Cill Rialaigh residency, Transartist project, IE, 2018
Cill Rialaigh residency, Transartist project, IE, 2017
International Glass Kanazawa finalist, JP, 2016
International Glass Symposium, active participation, Novy Bor, CZ, Oct. 2015
Arctic Glass Studio Norway, Professional residency, NO, Feb. 2015
University of Washington, Professor exchange program, WA, USA, 2014
Creative Glass Center of America, Fellowship, NJ, USA, fall 2014
Corning Museum of Glass Studio, Artist in residence, NY, USA, 2014
Bullseye R&E center, Artist Exchange Program, residency, Portland, OR, USA, 2013
New Mexico, Professional residency (invited), NM, USA, 2012
Masterclass with James Carpenter, Bornholm, DK, 2012
Northlands Glass Center, Professional residency (invited), Scotland, 2011
Pilchuck residency, Emerging Artist in Residence, WA, USA, 2009
One month artist residency in New York (Ministry of Culture, Slovenia), Dec. 2008
Creative Glass Center of America, Fellowship, NJ, USA, 2001
Workshop with Judy Hill, Jacksonville, FL, USA, 1999
Pilchuck Scholarship, WA, USA, 1999
Chevening scholarship, GB, 1995
Valvasor – Chevening scholarship, GB and SI, 1994
Individual Exhibitions / selected
Passage, Small Kos Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2021
Mid-Breath, Velenje Art Gallery, SI, 2021
Tanja Pak, artist in residence / Maradiva Resort & Spa, Mauritius, 2019
Breath in Between, TR3 Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2018
The Tales of a Breath, Glass Atrium at Ljubljana City Hall, Ljubljana, SI, 2018
Paths, Atelje galerija, Ljubljana, SI, 2017
Tanja Pak, Brands&Signs, Month of Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2017
InBetweennes, Kresija Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2015–2016
A Walk in a Desert, Atelje Galerija, Ljubljana, SI, 2013
Within / I held my breath but the world kept on dreaming, multimedia installation,
Ljubljana’ Castle, SI, 2011–2012
Pointé, glass installation, Ljubljana’ Castle, SI, 2011–2012
Dreaming Away, multimedia installation, Ljubljana’ Castle, SI, 2010–2011
The Moment After-Alina., multimedia installation, Ljubljana’ Castle, SI, 2010–2011
Flow, Red Dot 2009, Glesia Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2009
Tanja Pak, Sculptures, Council of Europe, Strassbourg, FR, 2009
Lara, Red Dot 2008, Glesia Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2008
Undulations. Again. Glesia Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2006
Traces, St. Vit, Dravograd, KGLU Slovenj Gradec, SI, 2004
Red and Black, Marjan Lovšin Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, 2003
Searchings, Miklova Hiša Gallery, Ribnica, SI, 1999
Whisperings, Ljubljana Castle, Ljubljana, SI, 1998
Group Exhibitions / selected
European Glass Context 2021, Denmark, 2021
Arte Laguna Prize 2021, Venice, IT, 2021
Venice Glass Week Hub, Palazzo Loredan, Venice, IT, 2021
Tunnel 29, Milan Design fair, Milan, IT, 2021
Slovenian Creativity, Paris Design Week, Paris, F, 2021
Collect 2021, London (With Joanna Bird gallery), London, 2021
Made in, (with Museum of Architecture and Design, Slovenia), Wienna, A, 2021
Arte Laguna Prize 2020, Venice, IT, 2021
Milan Design Fair 2020 (with Museum of Architecture and Design, Slovenia), Milan, IT, 2021
Tunnel 29, MAD, Ljubljana, SI, 2020
Collect 2020, London, GB, 2020
Beauty and His Beast, Legnice in Lodz, PL, 2020
Beauty and His Beast, Wroclaw, PL, 2019
Venice Glass Week Hub, Palazzo Loredan, Venice, IT, 2019
Arte Laguna Prize 2019, Arsenale, Venice, IT, 2019
Slovenian Creativity, with Slovenian National Museum, XI'an Museum, China, 2019
45th International Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Michigan, MI, USA, 2017
International Glass Kanazawa, JP, 2016
International Glass Symposium, Glass Museum, Novy Bor, CZ, 2015
Vitraria Glass +A Museum, opening exhibition, Venice, IT, 2014
Design+, Month of Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2014
Bullseye Project, Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass, WI, USA
Chroma Culture, Bullseye Gallery, Portland, OR, USA, 2013
Inspired by Nature, Hempel Glass Museum, DK, 2013
Hot Glass, CAA, London, UK, 2013
Silent Revolutions - Contemporary Design in Slovenia, Moscow, RU, 2013 / Helsinki, FI, 2012 / Tent Gallery, London, UK, 2011 / Eindhoven, NL, 2011
Glass in Context 2012, Bornholm Art Museum, DK, 2012
Coincidencies II / Exhibition of Slovenian artists, Galerija Murska Sobota, SI, 2012
Month of Design - All Awards Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2011
Modern Art in Slovenia, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, DE, 2011
AllAwardsDesign, Zavod Big, Viba, Ljubljana, SI, 2010
Talents 2010, Ambiente, Frankfurt Messe, Frankfurt, DE, 2010
Rotovž, Lemberg, with Mirsad Begić, SI, 2009
Red Dot 2009, Red Dot Design Museum, Essen, DE, 2009
RedDot.si, Mestni muzej Ljubljana, SI, 2008
Red Dot 2008, Red Dot Design Museum, Essen, DE, 2008
Glass in Context 2008, Bornholm Art Museum, DK, 2008
CGCA Fellowship Alumni, Museum of American Glass, NJ, USA, 2007
20th Biennial of Industrial Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2006
Installations on the Grass, Kogl, Velika Nedelja, SI, 2005
19th Biennial of Industrial Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2004
20/20 Vision, Creative Glass Center of America, NJ, USA, 2003
LuxEuropae2002, Copenhagen, DK, 2002
18th Biennial of Industrial Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2002
Contemporary Glass Exhibition, China Millennium Museum in Beijing, CN, 2001
Contemporary Glass Exhibition, Shanghai Museum of Fine Art, CN, 2001
29th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Pontiac, MI, USA, 2001
17th Biennial of Industrial Design, Ljubljana, SI, 2000
A Gathering of Glass, Sable V Fine Art Gallery, Wimberley, TX, USA, 1999
Glass Art Society Expo International II, Tampa, FL, USA, 1999
Expo ‘98, Lisbon, PT, 1998
Design from Slovenia, Rokus, Ljubljana, SI, 1997
Centenary Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 1996
Celebrating Slovenia, Liberty’s, London, UK, 1993
Permanent Public Installations and Collections
InBetweenness, private collection, Brussels, B, 2020
Breath, Lah Art Foundatition, Ljubljana, SI, 2018
Flow, Academy of Fine Arts and Design art collection, SI, 2018
Whiteness, RIKO collection, SI, 2017
Reveries / From Here, Center of Poetry Tomaž Šalamun, Ljubljana, SI, 2016
Breathing - I, private collection, Ljubljana, SI, 2016
Breathing, IGS, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, CZ, 2016
In My World, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, DE, 2011
A Fountain, public installation, Laško Spa, Laško, SI, 2009–2011
A Chandelier, 365 Glass Drops, public installation, Laško Spa, Laško, SI, 2008
Design works, National Museum of Slovenia, glass collection
Boats, BTC Headquarters, Ljubljana, SI, 2007
Fluctuations - to the Soča River, Kobarid Public Library, Kobarid, SI, 2002
Trees, Nova Ljubljanska Banka’s Art Collection, Ljubljana, SI, 2001
Fluid, Multimedia Installation, Ljubljana Castle, Ljubljana, SI, 1999