The ANU’s Glass team has been busy hand-crafting the 36 intricate glass sculptures that will be Australian of the Year Awards, made every year at the ANU Glass Workshop.

Lead fabricator, artist Louis Grant explains, the team are “basically creating mini-artworks”, adding that the work that goes into making them, from achieving the hint of colour that separates each category to the distinct Southern Cross markings, requires serious precision.

The Australian of the Year awards were first made at the ANU Glass Workshop in 2017, where a small team  led by School of Art and Design technical officer Catherine Newton brought the design into being. Newton says that making the awards offers unparalleled professional practice opportunities to students.

A well-known glass artist whose work can be seen in multiple shows across Australia, Grant has been working as a full-time artist for the past two years, but has returned to ANU to help produce the Australian of the Year Awards.

“When you see the awards given out, they are glowing — there’s something sublime about that,” he says.