What Is Broken Glass Art Called? Names, Techniques and Terms
Broken, cracked, shattered or fractured glass art? A clear guide to the names of the technique — and to the crafts that only sound similar.
People search for this art form under many names: broken glass art, cracked glass art, shattered glass art, fractured glass art, glass breaking art. Some of these names describe the same thing; others describe completely different crafts. This guide explains the terms — and what the technique used at Cracasso is really called.
The short answer
There is no single official name. “Broken glass art” is the most common term in English, and it is the one Cracasso uses. “Cracked glass art”, “shattered glass art” and “fractured glass art” usually describe the same technique: an image created by striking a sheet of glass so that the cracks themselves form the picture.
The technique behind the names
In this technique, nothing is glued, painted on the front or assembled from pieces. The artist works on one sheet of laminated safety glass — two layers of glass bonded to a flexible interlayer. Each strike with a hammer creates fractures, but the interlayer holds the glass together, so the pane cracks without falling apart. With several hundred controlled strikes, the density of the fractures builds light and shadow, and a face appears. The back is painted black so the white lines of the cracks stand out.
That is why “fractured glass art” or “glass fracture portrait” may be the most precise names: the image is drawn with fractures.
Names that mean something else
- Broken glass mosaic — small pieces of broken glass glued onto a surface to form a pattern. Beautiful, but built from separate shards.
- Crushed glass art — glass crushed into grains and set in resin, often on canvas or furniture.
- Stained glass — coloured glass pieces cut and joined with lead or copper foil so light passes through.
- Broken glass photography — photographs taken through or of shattered glass.
- Broken glass sculpture — three-dimensional objects made from glass. Broken glass portraits are framed panels, not sculptures; see Broken glass sculpture or portrait?.
Why the name matters to collectors
If you are looking for a portrait drawn into a single pane of glass, search terms like “broken glass portrait”, “shattered glass portrait” or “cracked glass portrait” will bring you closer than “broken glass art” alone. When you buy, ask how the work is made: one laminated sheet, or pieces glued together? The difference affects how the work looks, how it ages and how safe it is to hang. For the safety side, see Is broken glass art safe and durable?.
What Cracasso calls it
At Cracasso the works are called broken glass art or broken glass portraits — hand-fractured portraits on laminated safety glass, each one of one, signed and certified. You can see them in the collection, or learn how they are made in How broken glass art is made.
