Set designer and glassmaker Ricardo Hoineff is a man with a colourful life story. He was born in Rio de Janeiro. In a Jewish family. In the early '90s, he packed his suitcase and flew to Prague on a blind. He studied stage design at DAMU and became a respected creator of TV jingles from Citizen Judo to StarDance. At 40, however, he saw a glassblower at work in Nový Bor. And fell in love. Glass. And he went back to school. Today, he creates art glass using his own method. "Scenography is here and now. Glass is forever."

Visiting his studio is a slightly different experience than walking through a gallery. You'll not only see the finished artwork, but also how and where it's created, and get a peek into the life of a glass artist. The studio is on the ground floor of a modern timbered cottage, which was built in 2016 in keeping with the local architecture of wooden cottages in the picturesque village of Slunečná. The studio is equipped with a large fusing kiln, a technique mostly associated with decorative and utilitarian pieces. But with these, the visitor will see something extra, sometimes even the process of laying itself, depending on what is being created at the moment. Over a self-brewed coffee, Ricardo is happy to talk about the technique, his story, the glass, the region and how beautiful it is here, just like visiting a friend at home. He can communicate with his visitors in Portuguese, English or Spanish in addition to English.