He comes from Čaka in the district of Levice and his interest in the artistic world, especially clay modeling, led him to ceramics.

After not being accepted to the School of Arts and Crafts in Bratislava, he decided to study at the ceramic school of Slovak Folk Majolica in Modra. In the third year, when he had to decide whether he would paint or throw pots, he was drawn to painting, but due to a shortage of potters, he was placed in the “jug-making” department. Initially, he did not want to throw pots, but in hindsight, he is grateful for his fate. After completing school, there were not enough old masters in the workshop, so he immediately started making a range of pottery products (from small items to large vases) that masters with twenty years of experience used to create. Over time, the monotony of the work in the workshop led him to consider establishing himself independently.

To initiate collaboration with the ÚĽUV, he was inspired by Jozef Franko, for whom he helped create items for his solo exhibition in 1984. His initial products for ÚĽUV included square bottles, jugs with a double belly, jugs with classic and plastic decoration, and figurative sculptures. Later, painted pictures were added, and gradually, he expanded his range to include other types of bottles, pitchers, sculptural jugs, and owls. He constantly modifies the basic shapes and continues to do so. By focusing on creating artistically and craftily demanding pieces, he can produce them in smaller series, up to a maximum of five pieces per year.

Today, he works in the workshop with his wife, Jaroslava, also a graduate of the Modra school, who worked as a painter at Majolica. In their joint work, she paints ornaments and glazes the pottery. The current collection emphasizes painted pictures and figurative reliefs, with motifs depicting craftsmen, musicians, winemakers, and musicians. Figurative decor with these themes is common in the decoration of other objects as well. The ornamentation is inspired by the tradition of workshops in western Slovakia that processed Hutterite patterns. Similar to Hutterite ceramics, the Viglašovci couple’s work lacks red in its color palette. Ján Viglaš also uses drawing preparations in creating new products. An unusual feature is the use of applied plastic decoration on vessels, a technique more commonly seen in pottery than in majolica.

In collaboration with the aforementioned master Jozef Franko, he also ventured into building tiled stoves, a craft he still practices – from preparing the clay to pressing tiles from molds and constructing the stoves themselves.

In 1990, he obtained a certificate as a master in the field of ceramic production within the qualification of master of folk art production.