Made of glass and for everyone
At theUM, human biodiversity is thriving. Meet a particularly rare bird in the heart of the Triolet campus: Tristan Beldi, a scientist and glassblower. From ordinary Pyrex to nearly pure silica, he transforms the hardest of materials into fiery marshmallows.
With a passion for the art of fire that has never left him in his 25 years in the business, this “A job like no other”” he said. Tristan Beldi is always busy. From the fantastical visions he breathes out—with a steady, sure breath—very useful scientific tools are born…
Repair and Creation
From flasks and test tubes to coolers and microdistillation apparatus, he works with the entire range of scientific glassware—from the indispensable Pyrex, the chemist’s go-to all-purpose vessel, to silica glassware designed for use at extremely high temperatures.
A full-time glassworker right here on campus? That opens up quite a few possibilities, Tristan explains. Quick repairs, the ability to create one-of-a-kind pieces—which would be prohibitively expensive on the open market—or even to work on-site in labs on complex setups for research. In that case, don’t hesitate to reach out to him:
Working with the researcher to develop plans and helping to create a specific project—it's exciting!
An Extraordinary Workshop
Who are the clients of this extraordinary workshop? Teachers and researchers from a wide variety offields: mainly chemistry, but also pharmacy, medicine, physics… “In fact, the entire scientific community may need glassware, ”explains this enthusiast, whom even the university’s mathematicians have come to see. Their request: the creation of a “Klein bottle”—that strange, self-contained vessel that bears some resemblance to the no less strange but better-known Möbius strip.
And while Tristan’s craft occasionally flirts with artistic creation, he doesn’t mind it at all. At the request of the art and culture department of theUM, he participated in the Chimaera exhibition as part of the Microclimax collective’s artist residency, creating for the occasion an incredible glass prototype: a forest of scented vases emerging from an undergrowth of fused chemistry balloons.
While these forays into the art world remain limited, the business itself is still in its early stages, according to Tristan, whose order book is growing rapidly. Especially since the Balard Chemistry Campus project could undoubtedly further expand the community likely to use this local service.
The next project on his mind? An introductory glassblowing workshop, to help everyone get their hands dirty—with glass, of course.