How Reflex Angelo transformed Venetian glass into a modern design idea

Since its origins in the 1950s as a craft workshop, Italian furniture company Reflex Angelo has been growing while quietly shaping the art of Venetian glassmaking into a contemporary design brand, harmoniously blending tradition and modernity. Today, the company embraces aesthetic research and material innovation, and every piece is made exclusively at its Biancade, Northern Italy, headquarters.

Reflex Angelo: tradition meets modernity

‘Beauty is not a detail: it is a value’ is a motto of sorts for a company set on expressing a contemporary, refined language based on clean lines and harmonious proportions. ‘Our goal is to merge functionality, Italian identity and long-lasting quality,’ says the company’s president, Luciano Lucatello. ‘What defines Reflex is the ability to reinterpret tradition with a forward-looking mindset. Every product is conceived to endure – not only in physical durability but in relevance and emotional appeal.’

Among the products that best exemplify Reflex Angelo’s mission are Riccardo Lucatello’s ‘Laguna 72’ glass table: solid glass, clear or amber-toned, is handcrafted by the company’s master glassmakers, who shape the molten glass to create the illusion of a waterfall. Lightness and structural rigour coexist in this piece, which is a feat of contemporary design with a natural organic expression.

The company’s research into the decorative possibilities of glass is represented by the ‘Fiore 55’ series, a collection of stylised flower-shaped side tables by Tulczinsky featuring a chrome base topped in blue, amber, emerald or mirrored enamel-effect glass.

Meanwhile, the ‘Dreamcatcher’ mirror, by artist Annalù, is a fitting example of Reflex Angelo’s innovative stance on traditional Venetian glass: a backlit wall mirror decorated with a plethora of hand-painted glass butterflies, it draws from local aesthetic motifs and makes a striking addition to contemporary interiors.

But the company’s reach stretches beyond glass: projects such as its longstanding collaboration on furniture collections with Pininfarina, the Italian design house and coachbuilder, demonstrate Reflex Angelo’s ability to speak more than one design language, and respond to the demands of the contemporary market with pieces that offer a full interior vision. Among the collaborative designs, and an example of innovation and sophistication, is the ‘Orizzonte’ sofa, featuring an internal wooden structure and a mechanically adjustable backrest, with finishes in canaletto walnut, dark ash or bronze, and a wide range of upholstery options in fabric and leather.

With its portfolio of effective design solutions, rigorous manufacturing and imaginative design, Reflex Angelo has established itself as a successful blend of tradition, technology and innovation.

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