Since graduating from the National College of Art and Design Dublin, in 2006 and then the International Glass Centre, West Midlands, Catherine has exhibited her work widely in the UK and Ireland. She recently won awards at the National Craft Competition, Dublin and the Anna Cheyne Award for Visual Arts.

'Colour and pattern are so attractive to me,' she says. 'They have a direct way of creating an instinctual response. Glass has a unique ability to affect light, making an object more than its contained shape, throwing swathes of colour into a space.

'Glass blowing is a very immediate process, it requires great dexterity and swift, confident gestures to create sublime forms. For me, a major draw to the medium is the great breath of different techniques, the high level of skill needed to refine these techniques and the seemingly endless possibilities for new creations.'