Anna Orlina’s First Solo Exhibit at Galerie Stephanie

Ni Oggie Medina

Glass sculptor Anna Orlina has stepped out of the shadow of her famous father, Ramon Orlina, to present her highly anticipated first solo exhibition, titled “Reflections of Being”.

Running from September 18 to October 11, 2026, at Galerie Stephanie in Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City, the show marks a significant milestone in her decade-long journey experimenting with glass.

While Anna spent years honing her foundational techniques by watching her pioneer father and studying at institutions like the Pilchuck Glass School, Reflections of Being represents the crystallization of her own distinct artistic voice.

Unlike the more traditional geometric focus of the older generation, her solo work features vibrant, vivid color pairings, high-energy forms, and playful use of light. For this debut, she spent five to six months completely dedicated to crafting a deliberate, 10-piece collection rather than her usual routine of joining group exhibits.

The exhibition is an intimate journey into Anna Orlina’s multicultural identity, femininity, and family bonds.

Her Filipino-Malaysian heritage. The vibrant palette across the 10 custom pieces draws heavily from her experience growing up in a multicultural household.

Tributes to family. Several pieces are directly inspired by her young nieces, Mari and Kira. For instance, she translated their bright personalities into playful forms, crafting a delicate glass butterfly for Mari and a radiant star structure for Kira.

Intricate techniques. Her creative process combines meticulous cutting, laminating, coldworking, grinding, and polishing. Proving her commitment to modern innovation, she even upcycled waste glass into some of these new luminous forms.

Family, faith, femininity, cultural and ethnic lineage, and selfhood are Anna’s great abiding subjects here. What is fashioned out of these thematic explorations is uniquely hers: playful and lucent by design, and revealing a contemplative core that draws on her experiences—as a young woman and daughter, as an inheritor of the Orlina glass legacy, among others—that have shaped her to be the person she is today.