‘Everywhere I go I see pattern. In the brick buildings of London, in the knit of the jumper I’m wearing, even in the branches of the trees,’ says British designer Tom Dixon, whose previous glassware designs include pieces inspired by the bold geometric silhouette of a game puck and the functional volumes of scientific lab equipment.
For his first collaboration with Nude, the contemporary outshoot of leading glassware producer Şişecam, Dixon observed the patterns made by water, both on the table and outdoors. A signature ripple detail can be found at the base of each piece in the collection, adding a tactile simplicity to its wine, cocktail, highball and lowball glasses.
Tom Dixon with a piece of the new glassware
Combining Dixon’s distinctive visual language and Nude’s contemporary glassmaking expertise, the ripple detail also reflects Dixon’s ongoing exploration of concentric forms, which have appeared on creations ranging from the ‘Press’ collection of lighting and accessories – ‘very much an extension of this thinking, but this time in immensely heavy pressed glass’ – to the art-deco curved ridges of the ‘Groove’ outdoor chair.
‘I have a tendency to get a specific obsession, sometimes in shape, sometimes in materiality, and I originally started looking at this “grooving” or corrugation when I was trying to make the outdoor chair,’ says Dixon. ‘It’s an industrial pattern, and I like the way that it is so universal – when we started looking at glass we loved the way that by having these undulations you get a series of circular lenses that refract and reflect light and give you the impression of the movement of water.’
Both functional and expressive, the expanding glass circles celebrate the joy of pouring a drink, capturing the movement of liquid through the vessel and the quiet pleasure of the final sip. ‘The concentric rings that occur when the last drop of wine is poured, when a raindrop hits a puddle and a series of concentric rings emanate from the centre – they are in fact the perfect structural and decorative device for a wine glass,’ he says.
The ripple also beautifully mirrors the glassblowing process itself. ‘It is not just a celebration of the water, the cocktails and the wine that will inhabit the glassware, but also an acknowledgement of the liquid state of glass during the manufacturing process, during which the molten glass flows, pours and ripples in a way that is reflected in the transition from stem to base,’ says Dixon.
Dixon might be known for his early welded metal creations, but he relished the chance to explore a different material for this new collaboration. The glassblowing process is ‘so much fun, and so much danger... so much heat and such quick decision making – it really is the opposite of metal in the way that you work it, but I loved the brand new challenge’, he says, having tried it for himself at a recent glassblowing residency at Soneva in the Maldives.
Achieving the exceptionally thin, delicate proportions of the machine-made ‘Splash’ collection required significant technical know-how, resulting in a finish remarkably close to handcrafted glass. ‘The ripple effect was particularly challenging: creating a bold texture on the base while maintaining the collection’s lightness and refined proportions required close collaboration between design and production,’ say the team at Nude.
Lowball glass
‘With this project, we wanted to capture the subtle beauty of drinking – the way liquid moves, settles, and disappears,’ they say. ‘Beyond the pieces themselves, the collection was designed to create a more sensory and experiential way of drinking, elevating everyday moments through design.’
So, what to serve in these beautifully made glasses? Well, Dixon suggests something fizzy to celebrate: ‘I’m childishly partial to anything with bubbles in it, so give me champagne, give me Kombucha or hand me the simplest gin and tonic – but not all at the same time.’
The ‘Splash’ collection will be available worldwide at Nude Glass and Tom Dixon from 7 September