Celebrating the 8th anniversary of Shanghai Museum of Glass

With “Dare to be wild” being the motto for the next year, we celebrate the 8th anniversary of our Shanghai Museum of Glass and the inauguration of a new outdoor glass blowing theater and Art Plaza. Over 500 guests saw the new show at the theater and enjoyed a summer party at our new open air areas.

Opening Speech by Tilman Thürmer
Vice President and Design Director of Shanghai Museum of Glass
Founder of Shanghai-based design agency COO

“Good evening

it is a great pleasure for us to open our new Art Plaza tonight together with you. This Plaza with its studios and theaters is the latest and probably most important extension to the constantly growing Shanghai Museum of Glass Park. It will give us air to breath and the space to manage our future growth and development.

Today is our eighth birthday. With “Dare to be Wild” we picked a slogan that describes pretty well what we do and how we do it. “To dare” means to take a risk, to take a challenge, to go out in the open and try out new things. Such as in 2005, when President Zhang Lin had the crazy dream to open a glass museum in Shanghai. Or in 2011, when we actually did it. Or in the following years, when we decided to not be a static place but a highly dynamic organism, that constantly re-invents itself, lives, and steadily goes forward.

“To be wild” means to accept the unexpected. To challenge conventions and to be ready for the future. “Into the wild” also means to leave an all too familiar habitual comfort zone behind and to step out into a new world beyond control. Maybe, it holds some unexpected wonders!

I like to thank all our partners, friends, families and fans at Corning, Tacoma, Murano, Milano, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, Japan and elsewhere for their trust, contribution and support. And of course I like to thank our incredible hard-working team for helping us day in, day out to continue writing the very successful story of Shanghai Museum of Glass.

I wish everyone tonight an inspiring and enjoyable evening. We are grateful having you tonight at our Park. Thank you!”