Layla Walter is a critically acclaimed New Zealand glass artist renowned for the intricacy and quality of her works in cast glass.

Walter’s work employs internal and external carving, often using very personal representations of weaving or native flora and fauna carved in bas-relief. “Much of the work I produce,” she notes, “is based on a vessel form – I am comfortable in the sphere of domestic reference, of what humans have done and used – holding a vessel as part of one’s daily life.”

Although Walter’s cast glass is not suited for daily use, she adds that “it does act as a reference to the simple act of living, of collecting, of holding, containing, offering.” She notes too that with glass casting, “a vessel is a good canvas on which to draw, to employ the translucency of glass, carving patterns on the interior and exterior and seeing the overlay, like layers of pattern and foliage when walking through the bush in dim light.  I found a comfortable place with the woven vessels in glass, and later developed the bird and flower work, a necessary progression bringing me closer to observation, drawing and carving.”

In 2019 she was one of 200 international artists selected, and the sole New Zealand representative, for the first International Handicrafters Festival in Uzbekistan. Walter has been invited to teach, demonstrate and talk about glass casting and New Zealand glass in Australia, America, Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and New Zealand. She is Vice President  of the World Craft Council – Asia Pacific Region and runs Mahi ā Ringa, Craft New Zealand Aotearoa.