Glass artist, Marguerite Beneke, was born in 1973 and grew up in Pretoria. As a child she had a natural flair for art and spent many hours drawing whilst working in the corporate world as a trainer, she continued painting in acrylics and oils but also developed a keen interest in stained glass and glass etching. Soon she started doing commissions for work colleagues.

In 2003, she and her husband decided to move away from the busy city life and settle in the quaint little Karoo town of Aberdeen. It is here that she started her full time career as a glass artist. Inspired by the Karoo she began trying to capture the atmosphere in her glass work.

She had no formal art training. It took a few years of experimenting with different firing schedules, glass enamels and mediums to create her unique style of beautiful fused glass pieces. Marguerite considers herself a “constant student” and enjoys making trips to neighbouring Karoo towns to collect reference material and inspirations for new works.

Her work is exhibited in galleries throughout South Africa and has been sold to international clients. She has done commissions for the South African Air Force and other corporate companies.

“I truly feel blessed to be able to use my God given talent to create work that brings joy to other people”