He trained as a technical glassmaker, tried other trades, and came back. From 1995 he worked in art glass alone.

The work is flameworked, not blown. A borosilicate rod is held in the torch until it softens, then drawn and shaped by hand into a solid figure. There is no mould and no casting anywhere in the process, which is why no two pieces are identical even when they share a name.

Every finished piece is signed by hand — the letters O.V., usually in gold, laid onto the glass and fired in. It is the last thing that happens to a piece before it leaves the bench.

Surfaces are left clear, gilded in gold, or built up from coloured North Star glass — often all three within a single figure. The gilding is what carries the light on the deities; the clear pieces rely on refraction alone, which is why they need darkness behind them to be seen at all.