The first experimental proposals by this artist heralded a radical change in the way pressed glass has been treated so far. Drost was able to give up on the old, rigorously observed symmetry of forms – he created objects in the „press room” suggesting in their shape that they are the result of manual shaping.
A long period of work in one factory allowed Drost to get to know the smallest details of the process of forming pressed glass. Knowledge of workshop requirements and limitations provoked him to undertake experimental solutions of a purely technical nature. In this respect, his achievements are completely exceptional in Poland.
Professor Paweł Banaś, Polskie Współczesne Szkło Artystyczne (Polish Contemporary Glass), 1982
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Diploma under the direction of Prof. Stanisław Dawski at the Ceramics and Glass Faculty at the State Higher School of Visual Arts (currently: E. Geppert Academy of Art and Design) in Wrocław, 1958.
Winner of many prestigious awards, including a gold medal for the Blur set and a gold medal for the Asteroid set at the Second International Glass and Porcelain Triennial, Jablonec nad Nisou, Czechoslovakia, 1976.
After graduation, he worked at the Katowice Mechanical and Optical Works, where he gained experience in the field of optical glass, used later in his artistic work, 1959–1960. From 1960, he worked for 40 years as a designer, design manager and organiser of the design center of the Glassworks “Ząbkowice”, Ząbkowice Będzińskie (Dąbrowa Górnicza). As part of a scholarship from the Swedish government, in 1972 he completed a study internship at Swedish glassworks and ceramics plants. He also studied at the Faculty of Industrial Design in Konstfackskolan (Stockholm Higher School of Visual Arts), Stockholm, Sweden; he also trained at the Industrial Design Centres in Stockholm and Milan, Italy, and at the Glass Institute in Växjö, Sweden, 1972.
He has taken part in 3 domestic individual exhibitions and about 50 collective exhibitions in Poland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK, Yugoslavia, and the USSR. He is an outstanding creator of serial and unique glass, as well as the author of patented glass forming technologies. His most famous projects are Diatret, Radiant, and Asteroid. Together with his wife Eryka Trzewik-Drost he spread the technique of pressed glass. He also works with graphics and interior design.
