Some weeks after the dust has settled on the whirlwind that is Milan Design Week, we find ourselves reflecting on the objects that lingered most vividly in the memory. Many this year, we realised, came in the form of glass.

Across the city, designers explored the material in ways that reinterpreted glassmaking traditions for a new generation – headliners dedicated to the medium included 6:AM’s standout showcase at Piscina Cozzi and Valentina Ciuffi’s The Romance of Fragility at Delvis (Un)Limited, while the highly decorative works of designers such as Sema Topaloğlu and Christian Pellizzari pushed traditional techniques into more dreamlike territory.

Rather than polished perfection, many embraced irregularity, distortion and visible process – using glass to create objects that felt expressive, spontaneous, and at times, wonderfully unruly.

Here are some of our favourites.

'Over and over and over and over' by 6:AM

Set within the dramatic surrounds of Piscina Cozzi, 6:AM presented its latest collection, including the multicoloured cast-glass stools originally created for Bottega Veneta’s S/S 2026 runway show. As the exhibition’s title suggests, the installation explored repetition as a generative principle, with towering compositions that took full advantage of the piscina’s lofty proportions.

‘2026 Chapter 1’ by Barovier&Toso

Historic Murano glassmaker Barovier&Toso used Milan Design Week to unveil ‘2026 Chapter 1’, marking a new era under artistic director Luca Nichetto. Presented within a softly layered showroom installation by Nichetto, the collection paired Murano craftsmanship with more restrained, architectural forms, signalling a shift towards a contemporary visual language while preserving the brand’s historic identity.

‘Boswellia’ wall lamp by Christian Pellizzari

Christian Pellizzari's spellbinding Murano glass ‘Boswellia’ lamp was a particular highlight at ‘La Casa Magica’, an exhibition curated by Valentina Ciuffi for Nilufar Gallery. Here, an international roster of designers explored the home as a symbolic and ritual space. Inspired by the Boswellia tree, Pellizzari's sculptural piece merges traditional Venetian craftsmanship with contemporary design to create its fantastical form.

'The Romance of Fragility' at Delvis (Un)Limited

At Milanese gallery Delvis (Un)Limited, curator Valentina Ciuffi brought together delicate and precarious glass forms by a stable of international designers that explored vulnerability and impermanence. Cracked textures, fine edges and seemingly unstable compositions repositioned fragility as a strength – both aesthetically and conceptually.

‘Light as Medium’ by Bocci

Bocci transformed glass into an immersive study of light, volume and atmosphere. Presented in the brand’s Milan apartment showroom, the installation was laid out over a series of rooms transformed by mesmerising glass lighting, including folded sheet glass and clusters of suspended globes that explored the idea of illumination as something emotional rather than purely functional.

‘Something Blue’ by Completedworks

Displayed within the multi-level Convey exhibition, these slouchy glassworks formed part of Completedworks’ presentation. Hand-blown using melted-down window and bottle glass, the 'Silo' and 'B517' vases from the studio's 'Fold' series possessed a soft pale-blue hue created naturally through the recycled material. Their flowing, draped forms referenced the way painters have historically used fabric to suggest movement, while offering a more sculptural and conceptual counterpoint to traditional decorative glassmaking.

‘Liquid Parlour’ by Sudden Object

Also spotted at Convey, we loved these stemmed glasses with pebble-like bases cast from epoxy resin by experimental Rotterdam studio Sudden Object. Displayed within a reupholstered 18th-century vitrine sealed behind epoxy doors moulded from carved wood detailing, the warped pieces formed part of 'Liquid Parlour', a collection exploring repair, collage and the beauty of damaged or discarded objects.

‘Disco Aperitivo’ by Sophie Lou Jacobsen

American glassware designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen brought her playful approach to drinkware and entertaining into an apartment installation that included Swarovski crystal-jewelled glasses, bowls, patterned glass plates and a glass ashtray – her personal tribute to Milanese aperitivo culture. Shop the collection.

‘Facetas’ by Berto

Presented at Exhibit C during Milan Design Week, Berto Sánchez’s collection explored geometry, light and material through the 'Tiffany' technique – a 19th-century method of joining glass with copper and tin. The faceted forms shifted with light and perspective, while visible solder lines celebrated the handmade process and the beauty of imperfection.

‘Layers of Light’ by Venini

Venini presented Layers of Light, an immersive installation exploring the relationship between glass, light and architecture. Modular systems including 'Lunettes' by Michele De Lucchi, 'Parete Pop' by Michele De Lucchi and 'Volcano' by Manfredo Vaccari Giglioli transformed glass into a spatial device rather than a decorative object, using layered transparencies, colour and reflection to create atmospheric architectural environments.

'Layers' by OOG Objects

Presented along a windowsill at the Franco Albini-designed Villa Pestarini – one of Alcova's two destinations this year – OOG Objects founder Alicja Hajkowicz-Rudzka unveiled 'Layers' – a series of glass vessels built from overlapping forms that accumulated density at their centres while fading into transparency at the edges.

'Tales in Glass' by Gallotti e Radice

To mark its 70th anniversary, Gallotti e Radice celebrates with ‘Tales in Glass', an exhibition that will culminate in a group show featuring new work by a global cohort of female designers, including the LA- and Uruguay-based Estudio Persona; London's Miminat Shodeinde; Milan's Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi; Belgian-Dutch designer Ivania Carpio; Tokyo's Fumie Shibata; and the Dubai- and Montreal-based Rania Hamed.

The narrative lived within an immersive installation designed by Parisian architect Sophie Dries. ‘The scenography is inspired by crystal, so we're wrapping the walls with fabric and passementerie threaded with raw pieces of reclaimed glass,' says Dries. ‘It will feel quite precious, but, at the same time, the movement is very dramatic.

Sema Topaloğlu at Alcova

At Alcova’s Baggio Military Hospital site, Sema Topaloğlu presented 'The Waiting Room' – an installation centred around psychedelic chandeliers adorned with multicoloured glass flora and fauna that appeared almost extraterrestrial. The Turkish designer also presented 'Firfir in Garden', a series of flower-festooned vessels, alongside 'Tea Time', an arrangement of glass flowers and vessels displayed across the balconies of Villa Pestarini.

Vessels by Szkło

Szkło showcased a series of wobbly glass vessels as part of group show, 'Semiophores. Obiecta Animata', at Alcova. Hand-blown by Polish artist Aleksandra Zawistowska with a team of craftsmen, the vessels' production challenges conventional techniques. Zawistowska explains: 'As no traditional moulds are used in the process, the sculptures assume spontaneous forms, often challenging the notion of beauty. The glassblowing process becomes as important as the final form itself.'

When Pierangelo Gallotti and Luigi Radice founded their namesake firm in the heart of Brianza in 1955, the densely industrialised region between Milan and Como was already a hub of carpentry. Supported by abundant local timber and generations of specialised craftsmen, the district had become one of Italy's foremost centres of furniture production. As such, starting a furniture brand was not, in theory, a radical idea. What was radical was the path that they chose: to create a company based on objects wrought almost exclusively in glass.

Gallotti & Radice first operated as a small workshop, producing lighting, mirrors and decorative objects entirely by hand, before expanding its industrial capabilities to materials such as metal and upholstery. Yet its spirit of artisanal experimentation never faded.

Now in its 70th year, the brand marks the milestone with ‘Tales in Glass', an exhibition that will culminate in a group show featuring new work by a global cohort of female designers, including the LA- and Uruguay-based Estudio Persona; London's Miminat Shodeinde; Milan's Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi; Belgian-Dutch designer Ivania Carpio; Tokyo's Fumie Shibata; and the Dubai- and Montreal-based Rania Hamed.

Taking place in the historic Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna, the exhibition ‘tells a story in three chapters', says Silvia Gallotti, the brand's second-generation CEO and creative director. The narrative lives within an immersive installation designed by Parisian architect Sophie Dries. ‘The scenography is inspired by crystal, so we're wrapping the walls with fabric and passementerie threaded with raw pieces of reclaimed glass,' says Dries. ‘It will feel quite precious, but, at the same time, the movement is very dramatic.'

Visitors will first encounter the company's earliest creations, for which Dries and Gallotti spent months recovering archive pieces from auctions and vintage dealers. Among them is the 1971 ‘Adam' table – a transparent slab set on curved legs – widely considered the first table made entirely from glass. ‘At the time, they had invented new ways of fusing glass,' explains Dries, who will display an original edition alongside a new version she has reinterpreted in a warmer bronze-tinted finish.

The 1970s marked a turning point for the brand, as it developed a method of joining panes of glass with a simple stainless steel joint, enabling larger and more structurally complex pieces, such as the ‘T35 Trio' – a three-part coffee table set designed by Pierangelo Gallotti in 1975 – now presented in an anniversary edition in bronze-tinted tempered glass and brushed silver travertine.

For the section dedicated to the present, the brand will show selections from the 2026 catalogue, including outdoor furniture by the Milan-based duo David/Nicolas. The company will also present its latest pieces at Salone del Mobile, where Gallotti & Radice will launch new work by Studiopepe, Federica Biasi, and a collaboration between Francesco Meda and David López Quincoces.

Yet it is the latest generation of designers, presented in the exhibition's final chapter, that illustrates the artistic potential of the material. ‘We asked each designer to incorporate their own culture into the work,' says Gallotti. ‘These pieces truly tell a story – both of the designer's background and of the craftsmanship that Gallotti & Radice has cultivated over the past 70 years.'

The new commissions explore glass through a range of artisanal finishes that Gallotti & Radice has developed over the decades. Estudio Persona will present a low table with a fused amethyst glass top set on a base in hand-patinated antique bronze, with an alternative version clad in shimmering aluminium leaf. Shibata worked with tempered extra-light glass, delicately shading its surface by hand into soft gradients of chestnut, pink or yellow. Shodeinde composed a console from thick glass panels that fade gradually from deep black to transparency. Cameranesi Sgroi, meanwhile, experimented with fused glass to create a nesting trio of tables with crackled surfaces and shimmering aluminium-leaf finishes.

‘It's been extraordinary to visit the company's workshops and see how much of the process is still done by hand,' says Dries, whose installation will also feature other archive treasures, including original drawings from the 1960s and 1970s. ‘To find this depth of artisanal knowledge still alive within a family-run company is incredibly rare. It's precisely the reason their work with glass has endured for so long.'

Gallotti&Radice – Tales in Glass, Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna, Via Daniele Manin 13, Milan, gallottiradice.it

20-25 April 2026, 10am – 9pm;
21 and 26 April 2026, 10am – 5pm

Follow all the latest news from Milan Design Week 2026 with our editors’ live blog.

'I never thought the word fragile had negative connotations,' says the curator Valentina Ciuffi, founder of the creative practice Studio Vedèt and the mind behind ‘The Romance of Fragility’, the latest exhibition by Delvis (Un)Limited, debuting during Milan Design Week 2026. Bringing together the work of six designers and design studios – Familiar Form, Serim Kwack, Johan Pertl, Inderjeet Sandhu, Tino Seubert and Maria Tyakina – the show explores the formal limits of glass. 'To me, something that is fragile is something you take care of,' Ciuffi adds. 'It’s something that requires attention.'

Discover Delvis (Un)Limited at Milan Design Week

For the exhibition, Ciuffi selected works with a deliberately broad material expression, from pieces that resemble robust materials such as stone to others that engage more directly with the industrial language of glass.

Prague-based Johan Pertl, for instance, draws on the slow processes of natural land formations. His ‘Erosion’ side table takes cues from the decay of coastlines, with translucent, pink-tinged glass cascading from a white marble plinth, like water gradually wearing away rock. 'It looks as if it comes from another planet,' Ciuffi notes.

Elsewhere, glass becomes a vessel for memory. Familiar Form – founded by Myeonga Seo and Marie Kolářová – revisits the vanishing tradition of Bohemian cut glass, once a staple in Czech homes. Working with craftspeople from the Šumava mountains, the duo repurpose leftover sheet glass into a series of nesting vases, hand-cutting traditional patterns using a diamond grindstone.

The exhibition also pushes beyond functional typologies. The work of Korean designer Serim Kwack, Ciuffi says, 'is like a painting, or a wall hanging'. Using found industrial glass panes, Kwack creates subtle imprints of everyday objects – headphones, keyboards and other domestic items – resulting in ghostly traces suspended within the surface.

For Ciuffi, glass is more than a material defined by transparency and perceived delicacy. It becomes a lens through which to examine our relationship with collectible design itself. 'A lot of the time, collectible design objects are treated as if they’re fragile, even if they’re not,' she says. 'They attract this certain attitude of care about them.'

According to Ciuffi, this project marks the beginning of a broader research into fragility. 'I’d like to work with other materials, like paper, or explore the idea of balance and equilibrium,' she continues. 'But it’s always the same questions: how do we take care of these objects? And how do they inhabit our homes?'

Opening on 21 April 2026, the exhibition features a set design by Space Caviar, a longtime collaborator of Studio Vedèt. The Via Fatebenefratelli showroom will be transformed with glass bricks, creating a material dialogue with the works on display.

Delvis (Un)Limited is at Via Fatebenefratelli 9, 20121 Milano, 10am – 7pm, 21-26 April 2026

Breakfast is known to be the most important meal of the day, and French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen agrees. Her new collection comprises glass and silver-plated tableware inspired by the rituals of a classic European continental breakfast.

The ‘Continental Collection’ is a playful and elegant series of nine items, reinterpreted through Jacobsen’s sculptural view. Along with classic hotel breakfast sets, the New York-based designer referenced Egyptian glass ewers, cobalt glass antiques, and 20th-century Italian glassware.

As fitting for a leisurely morning brunch or a dinner party, the designs, like Jacobsen’s work in general, are rooted in the idea that objects should have a power to enhance their user’s mood through form and function. The focus is on simple objects and rituals and how these can elevate daily life.

Among the collection are a tea or coffee pot, a milk jug, mugs and cups, a preserves jar, a fruit bowl and a toast rack. An apple-shaped sugar pot is a recreation of an item from the designer’s childhood.

‘Breakfast for me, is one of the most important moments of the day, a soothing cup of tea or coffee, a sweet bite of toast with jam or honey, a gentle transition from sleep to wakefulness’, shares Jacobsen. ‘Growing up, my father always set the table the night before, and that small act of preparation became a comforting ritual of home, habit, and safety. I wanted to create objects that could encourage similar habits, objects that help us make memories.’

The Continental Collection is available at SophieLouJacobsen.com

A new and frankly exquisite trio of glasses lands today on the shelves of the MoMA Design Store. The collection is called ‘Small Matter: Form Glassware 001’ and we’re calling it early to say they will be in hot demand. Topaz coupes top three different onyx bottoms each with a distinct personality: from an elegant deco stem wine glass, to a chunky ribbed trunk goblet, to a squat, graphic counterweight of a base for the cordial glass. The glasses are borosilicate (lightweight and strong), blown into graphite moulds. They feel ceremonial and glamorous, ancient and sexy simultaneously. For their striking beauty, and the fact that they are technically handmade, remarkably they are relatively affordable: the wine glass and cordial are $41 each; the goblet is $45.

It will be no small matter of interest to the design community that the glasses were designed by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron. Solange is a multi-faceted and mercurial talent. And Saint Heron, the multi-inter-disciplinary studio Solange founded in 2013, is proving to be a riveting ecosystem of prodigious, exciting expression. Back in 2013, Saint Heron was largely a music outfit in the digital realm. Today, it has morphed into a creative community of broader skills with a focused commitment to explore the possibilities of design in all forms, amplifying under-represented minds and hands, visions and voices in the process.

As ‘Small Matter: Form Glassware 001’ comes to market, we took the opportunity to find out more from Solange about the project and Saint Heron, and her thoughts and feelings on design more generally. Her answers are light and profound, illuminating and inspiring in equal measure. She mentions the (very real) potential for design to be elusive and the industry to be guarded, before delivering a powerfully succinct and unpretentious explanation of what design represents. Design industry: sit-up, listen and take note.

Congratulations on such a fascinating and beautifully realised collaboration - tell us how the project came about?

Thank you so much! It is all very humbling and exciting new territory for me. I've considered myself to have always practised design in other mediums of my work, whether it be stage design, sculpture, scenography, or graphic design. Five years ago I really contemplated transitioning the evolution of my ideas and philosophies into creating tangible objects to engage with the people I love and I'm in community with through Saint Heron. It is all just another extension of my world making. This was the birth of Saint Heron’s Small Matter.

I spent a few years just ideating, sketching, rendering and exploring designs with everything from modular sofa concepts, to lighting. I began to make silicone moulds to work with resin to just explore different forms , and I fell in love with the luminosity and transparency in these resin objects, but some months later I took some glass blowing glasses, and felt really connected to the process and material .

To work with glass is to surrender yourself to be constantly moving on the material's time, and then sort of freeze time with an object. I then spent quite some time working with an incredible glassblower, Jason McDonald, to bring my designs into fruition through a collection of Small Matter Hand Blown Glassware.

The glasses look like artworks but they are functional and accessibly priced, which is impressive. How have you managed to balance craft with manufacturing?

We at Saint Heron consider our Hand Blown Glass, Art Objects, as each glass is individually hand blown, and goes through a pretty rigorous process from start to finish. No two glasses are identical, and you’re really experiencing a human tactile approach. They are also pretty weighty as they are solid glass. During the production process, I realised both the beauty and the limitation, in terms of producing at scale and accessibility. I wanted these ideas to reach more people, and more people who I am in community with.

It became equally important to me to constantly be both materialising my ideas to be in full service to my imagination and mind's eye, while also making thoughtful design accessible to my community. We spent the next year working on how to materialise a collection with the same thoughtfulness and intentionality, and the result was our Small Matter Form Glassware Collection. The form glasses are made from borosilicate, frequently known as Pyrex glass, which is a significantly more lightweight material. What I love about the Form Glassware is that there is still a human touch in the process, these are individually hand blown into a graphite mould, but using the the mould, and the other elements of the production process allows enables us to offer a much more accessible expression of the design, with the same thoughtfulness, and intentionality.

What's exciting to me about the Topaz Collection, is being able to express other facets of myself I am usually more reserved to express. Playing with the opacity, and the rich and contrasted colour story, has been an entirely different expression of these objects. The MoMA Design store feels like the perfect home for this collection because of their celebration creating joy and experimentation through design.

What has surprised you and/or what have you learnt from the project?

Man, I've learned so much from this process. First off, I've had some incredible people who have really extended themselves to me in guiding me through these processes. That really has been such a gift. I find that the design world can be really elusive, and oftentimes really guarded about sharing resources, or processes. I’ve been so incredibly lucky to have the generosity of helping me bring these designs from idea into fruition, and am forever grateful.

Also, discovering the magic is in the process and that extends from everything from directing a performance piece, or producing a song. I have been working on new objects and forms, and the connection in doing 25 iterations of refining until the proportions are just right, or contemplating if there’s just enough transparency in the material, is very similar to the way I approach making music, or choreographing a piece.

The joy is in the process, and while it can be tedious and a little obsessive, when you can stand back with some space and time, you realise that all of the answers coming to you are from some intuitive place you can not describe. That’s the joy in creation. You answer questions about yourself through creation, seeing an idea birth from a seed to something you can hold, and that's something that no amount of talk therapy, or journaling can reveal to you. I also learned how interested I am in the science of all of the elements that come together. One of the really interesting things about the Small Matter Form Glassware, is learning about how so many elements that have to be perfectly aligned, from the temperature and material of the mould, to the thermal expansion, it really is all so fascinating to contemplate. I am experiencing personal growth as a human in this process.

Please complete the sentence: "For me, design means...."

For me design is the act of turning an idea or reflection in how you see yourself, or the world around you, into fruition, and creating a tangible monument of these ideas along the way. It is the idea of creating artefacts that will live beyond us, an expression of saying I was here, and this is how I not only see the world around me, but the way I’d like to contribute to it.

And what would your drink of choice be to fill these wonderful glasses?

It's funny, growing up I have memories of my mother pulling out her nice glasses for moments she really wanted to flex, or commemorate a beautiful cherished memory with her loved ones. Those were mostly special occasions like holidays or a birthday or a graduation. A lot of people who have gotten pieces from the previous collection will stop me and say I don’t let anybody touch my glasses!

I really love that kind of care and tenderness and protection and value over these objects. But then there's this other part of me that loves to create celebration out of everyday mundane gestures. I sometimes will even drink water out of the glasses because why not give drinking water a ceremonial moment in your day? In the same way when you’re feeling shitty, and putting on the right dress can bring light to your mood, I hope the glassware can bring a moment of beauty to the experience of your day whether that's alone, or within fellowship.

Store.moma.org

Saintheron.com

Glass is often lauded as an infinitely recyclable material, capable of being melted down and reformed over and over without a loss of quality. There’s a lot of it in discarded electronic products – fridges, ovens, microwaves, computers, and so on. And yet, a combination of varying glass compositions, logistical hurdles and bureaucratic red tape have meant that when these products reach the end of their lives, most of the constituent glass simply ends up in landfill. 

This is a challenge that Studio Plastique, a research-based design studio in Brussels, first took on in ‘Common Sands’, an investigation into the ‘extraction, transformation, application and end-of-life of sand and sand-based products’. At a 2019 exhibition, Studio Plastique met the international architecture and design studio Snøhetta, and decided to join forces to bring their research into an architectural context.

Their collaboration resulted in a collection of glass tiles, called ‘Forite’, with a dappled, terrazzo-like appearance that suggests its diverse material origins and elevates its appeal.

‘Glass is treated in a wide range of coatings and laminates, so if you mix recycled glass, you end up not with a transparent material but rather a muddy, greenish-brown colour. But this quality that makes glass difficult to recycle is also what makes our tiles interesting,’ explains Snøhetta’s Henry Stephens.

Stephens adds that a circular economy demands that we reassess our relationship with aesthetics. ‘Modern materials are all driven by modernisation and standardisation, whereas if you’re designing with waste, there’s always going to be a bit of variability.’

Meanwhile, Studio Plastique’s Archibald Godts acknowledges that it was simple to design and create individual tiles, but bringing the product to market at scale was the ‘really daunting’ bit. EU recycling regulations on glass are rigid, and meant that it took strenuous efforts to secure the e-waste glass where they needed it, and at the right time.

It is thanks to Alessio Brioni, fourth-generation owner of Italian tile manufacturer Fornace Brioni, that ‘Forite’ is now commercially available. It comes with a choice of three backing colours (green, grey and transparent), and two sizes (10cm x 10cm, 30cm x 30cm).

‘Fornace Brioni has been producing tiles out of clay since 1920, but this is the first time we’ve worked with another material,’ says Alessio. ‘I think it’s the most difficult thing we’ve done.’

It’s a gamble that has clearly paid off, judging from the critical claim that Forite has garnered – including a Wallpaper* Design Award 2022 for Best Domestic Design.

Milan Design Week 2022 sees Forite shown to the public for the first time, in a pop-up showroom at Alcova, a showcase of independent design that takes over the abandoned Baggio military hospital in the west of Milan until 12 June.

On view are not only the ‘Forite’ tiles, but also samples of e-waste glass, prototype tiles that have been made from specific waste streams (fridge, TV screen, phone, photovoltaic panel, microwave tray, microwave door, oven and more), and a video that illustrates the research, design and manufacturing processes. 

The final tiles are displayed individually, within small grids, and in more architectural applications, including vertical panels, and a 120 x 120 x 60cm plinth in the centre of the space. The architectural forms are kept ‘fairly abstract, so people can project their own ideas onto them’, says Stephens.

The vertical panels are particularly evocative – suggesting the possible application of Forite not only as wall coverings but also space dividers. Clear glass tiles are displayed against generous windows that overlook the lush grounds of the military hospital, perfectly accentuating the tile patterns and illustrating just how alluring waste materials can be. 

Consistent with the sustainable ethos of the tiles, the exhibition design aims for a minimal environmental footprint: the adjustable aluminium profiles that hold up the vertical panels will be returned to their supplier after the exhibition closes.

‘Forite is just the beginning, and an example for us and others to learn from,’ concludes Marius Myking, director of product design at Snøhetta. ‘The potential in materials that are currently not used efficiently due to restrictions, regulations, old habits, and systems, or lack of political incentives is enormous.’

INFORMATION

Forite tile_01, 10cm x 10cm, €280 per sq m
Forite tile_02, 30cm x 30cm, €300 per sq m

forite.io

studioplastique.be; snohetta.com; fornacebrioni.it

New York jewellery brand Agmes is marking its fifth anniversary with a collaboration with sculpture and design studio Bianco Light & Space. The new collection rethinks objects and popular jewellery pieces from the past in soda-lime glass.

‘We loved working with Anthony Bianco (of Bianco Light & Space) back in 2018, and have had many requests to bring back the glass collection since,’ say Agmes founders Morgan and Jaclyn Solomon. ‘We’ve been wanting to create some new objects together since then, so this seemed like a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary, bringing back one of our favourite materials and partnerships. We really wanted to bring colour and joy to our everyday essential styles, building on what our customers have come to know and love us for.’

The new pieces reinvent classic styles in coloured glass, a process that was not without its challenges. ‘One of our biggest challenges was with the colours, which was also the most fun part,’ the jewellery designers add. ‘Visualising a transparent colour can be [difficult], especially when a small variation of that colour can greatly affect the end result. Additionally, the colour of the glass changes as it cools. We worked very closely with Anthony, and on many rounds, to perfect the colours we came up with, and are so happy with the end result he was able to achieve.’

Pieces are hand-blown by Bianco in his Los Angeles studio, using traditional techniques. ‘These pieces still stay true to our core DNA,’ the sisters say. ‘The styles, both jewellery and objects, are sculptural, classic, and minimalist. They will all withstand the test of time, and hopefully be passed down for generations. All of the pieces from this collection are made locally in the United States.’

INFORMATION
agmesnyc.com

Italian designer Luca Nichetto presents ‘Empathic – Discovering a Glass Legacy’ at Venice’s Punta Conterie gallery (until 10 April 2022), showcasing the work of eight designers experimenting with Murano glass through colour, form and different techniques.

Luca Nichetto and Murano glass

‘Murano glass is my favourite material, and a key to understanding my design approach,’ says Nichetto, originally from nearby Venice. ‘From the tools most commonly used in traditional Murano glass craftsmanship, to exploring new techniques, many of my designs are inspired by glassmaking in Murano. I am lucky enough to have access to this universe since my early childhood, and today I incorporate Murano glass into more than half of my projects.’ 

Nichetto asked Ini Archibong, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, GamFratesi, Benjamin Hubert, Richard Hutten, Elena Salmistraro and Marc Thorpe to each create a piece or small collection experimenting with glassmaking techniques, including blown glass, glass rods and cast glass, and letting memories and emotions guide their work. Each piece was brought to life by the skilled craftspeople of Murano, combining creativity and artisanal excellence.

Eight variations on glass design

The designers’ interpretations are as varied and diverse as their backgrounds and signature aesthetics, from the colourful compositions by Benjamin Hubert and Richard Hutten to the craft-oriented vessels by GamFratesi, merging organic glass shapes with palafitte-like wooden bases inspired by the city of Venice. 

Ini Archibong’s piece recreated traditional African wooden masks (what he calls ‘four empathic and protective spirits that a person can encompass to navigate the earthly realm’) with intricate glasswork: ‘Knowing that there is a historic precedent of Muranese-African cultural exchange, it entertains the prospect of a continued dialogue between the cultures through craft and spirituality,’ he says.

Nichetto’s own contribution to the project featured armoured figurines from his childhood, while Elena Salmistraro’s mirror is flanked by reproductions of Gorgons’ serpents. Marc Thorpe recreated the colours of the lagoon in his striped vases, and the theme of water is also evident in Noe Duchafour-Lawrance’s pieces, small tables evoking the effect of water’s surface in impossibly neat detail.

‘As a designer, I have wanted to work with Murano’s artisans since visiting the island when I was younger, and I believe it’s important to support craft industries to ensure they don’t disappear,’ comments Hubert. ‘This project is about working with the local makers and helping to protect their irreplaceable expertise, as well as a desire to create an expression of the process that showcases the inherent qualities of glass as a material.’

Adds Thorpe: ‘We could consider this exhibition a tribute to the history, art and craft of Murano. However, this exhibition is actually a love song from Luca to Murano. The works sing, carrying with them an individual resonance of unbridled passion for the spirit of Murano, conducted as a sonate by Luca Nichetto. It is an honour to participate in this passion.’

INFORMATION

‘Empathic – Discovering a Glass Legacy’ is on view at Venice’s Punta Conterie gallery until 10 April 2022
puntaconterie.com

ADDRESS

Fondamenta Marco Giustinian, 1
30141 Venezia 
Italy

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS
 

After months of restrained design and comfortable cuts, the optimism of spring has us yearning for jewellery both colourful and fun.

Colin Lynch, the jewellery designer behind Keane jewellery, has captured the zeitgeist with his joyful range of pieces hand blown in glass. Crafted in a range of sugary sweet hues and set in hypnotising spirals and curves, rings, bracelets and earrings are crying out to be worn stacked on the arms and fingers for a sweet summery refresh.

Classically trained in glassblowing in Venice, Lynch went on to study glass at the Rhode Island School of Design before launching his brand in 2017. Now, he makes his jewels from his studio in Brooklyn, inspired for his new collection by both the psychedelic revolution of the Seventies and traditional Japanese sweets, their powdery hues reflected in the eclectic range of pieces sustainably-imagined and made to last.

‘Glass dictates your design will happen in the process, as opposed to an end result,’ says Lynch. ‘It’s a material that can present a million ‘problems' that are really only problems if you have a specific goal or outcome in mind. With glass, the design process is as much about my ability to see something I wasn't expecting as it is about composing a production process.’

The unpredictability of glass means jewellery steps away from a rigid aesthetic, casting free-flowing silhouettes to dangle from the ears or loop around the wrists for fun and fresh results. ‘After a pretty tough year for most of the world, I think people seek comfort and empowerment in surrounding themselves with things that have a bright, secure feeling. Glass provides that in today’s historical context . Transparency and clarity are things we as a society cannot, and will not, live without.’ 

INFORMATION

keanenewyork.com

When the founders of the New York lighting studio Trueing visited Japan back in 2016, they stumbled upon an unexpected source of inspiration, spotting and falling for the sculptures of the glass artist Baku Takahashi. However, language barriers prevented Joshua Metersky and Aidan Bowman from uncovering Takahashi’s identity then and there. It was only back in the United States (and after a couple months of Instagram and internet research) that they managed to locate Takahashi. When they planned their next trip to Japan a couple of years later, they decided to get in touch.

‘We decided to reach out ahead of time, over a cold email, to see if Baku might be interested in discussing some kind of collaboration,’ Bowman recalls. ‘He responded positively and we made plans to visit him in Munakata, which is just a bit north of Fukuoka on Kyushu in southern Japan. Everything coalesced from there. We traded prototypes back and forth, discussed technical details and produced test pieces to make sure our concept would work.’

Following a year and a half of long-distance collaboration, ‘Howdy, Neighbor' is a new collection of lighting and objects that showcases the talents of both parties. An exploration into the many capabilities of glass, yet composed with a sense of humour and intimacy that subverts the medium, the collection is a humanistic array of editioned pieces, ranging from chandeliers to pendants and vases, that exude a bright and playful optimism – ideal for these times.

Colour plays a strong role in the collection, with both sides being highly specific with their choices. Metersky says, ‘Colour really links our two practices, and our reference points – while culturally different – are rooted in the same stylistic notions. Baku often cites manga culture (specifically Dragon Ball) and nature as sources of early inspiration. And I would say ours come out of similar or concurrent cultural waves, shaped by our own experiences. It’s not uncommon that we’d reference something like the bright, acidic hues of the early iMac, or the palette of vintage glass from the 1930s. So while we don’t share a language, there is this common desire to utilise colour vis-a-vis glass to tell a story and delight the viewer.’

Takahashi’s tactile, exquisitely proportioned forms are fused onto Trueing’s signature designs to bring out a new character from within. Takahashi fabricated his sculptures in his Munakata workshop, before shipping them to Trueing Studio in Long Island City in Queens, where the pieces were completed. United in the goal to create what Takahashi describes as something that is ‘fresh’ and previously unseen, the joint effort is as much about duality as it celebrates commonality.

‘Even though we both practise in glass, Baku's sculptures are rooted in the tradition of glass art, with clear evidence of the artist's tools and craft latent in the works,’ says Metersky. ‘Trueing's pieces originate from technical glasswork – adjacent, but different – and appear very perfect without giving up any indication of how they were made. However, the meeting point lies in the details. Glass is an incredibly technical medium and as Howdy, Neighbor came to life, it was clear that melding the works as a visual portmanteau would honour each of our backgrounds.’

INFORMATION

trueing.co

Adrian Cheng was a child when he first visited IM Pei’s revolutionary glass and metal pyramid at the Louvre. It was, he says, his first experience of architecture that ‘activates the soul’. ‘I remember being mesmerised by the architectural purity of the pyramid architecture and the daring juxtaposition of old and new,’ Cheng recalls. The founder of artisanal-focused lifestyle brand K11, and CEO of Hong Kong-based New World Development, Cheng has been the creative driving force behind K11 Musea, a groundbreaking art-retail complex that opened in 2019 in Hong Kong’s Victoria Dockside cultural district.

For the new K11 Art & Cultural Centre, a 6,000 sq m exhibition space with 1,000 sq m sculpture park on the sixth floor of K11 Musea, Cheng was keen to make a visual statement that bridges architecture, urbanism, landscape and public space. So he did not balk when Brooklyn-based architectural studio SO-IL proposed an undulating glass façade that would require investment to develop a revolutionary way of folding sheets of glass to create 9m-high, 0.9m-wide tubes.

Cheng had already noticed SO-IL founders Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg’s intriguing grand canopy for the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in Davis, California, and their organic façade for Kukje Gallery’s K3 building in Seoul. He was convinced that they would be able to design something elegantly simple yet distinctive for the new gallery space. It was not the ideal time to invent a new process for making glass: the designers had to move quickly to fit into K11 Musea’s tight construction timeline. The architects’ vision included rethinking the architectural typology of cultural buildings, moving away from the idea of a cloistered sanctuary and using a glass façade to create something literally transparent and connected to the world around it. But to achieve their vision, they would need to create 307 sheer, seamless glass columns.

‘Most traditional museums are enclosed volumes, but we wanted it to have a strong connection with the context and feel part of the urban space, so we knew we couldn’t have a typical curtain wall,’ Liu explains. Working with engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan, the studio undertook a worldwide search to find manufacturers to make the slender glass columns with an unusually tight diameter of less than a metre (most manufacturers recommend at least 2m widths), but no visual distortions or colour tint.

Spanish architectural glass manufacturer Cricursa took on the challenge, and constructed an extra large oven to accommodate the glass tubes, which each weigh up to 1,200kg and are formed of two layers of laminated 12mm-thick glass. The process called for precise control of heat, and the design of a new moulding system, using massive sheets of metal instead of conventional clamps to hold each tube in place for eight hours. The manufacturing process took a year to complete, during which the architects built models in their Brooklyn studio, then made larger mock-ups at Cricursa’s workshop in Spain, and in Germany, where the façade contractors Seele are based, constantly refining the process and planning the installation.

‘We like to work closely with people who make and innovate things,’ Liu says. ‘Computer modelling doesn’t always allow you to grasp the tactile experience and figure out what the limits are.’ The duo also drew on their experience of working in Japan (where Idenburg was with architecture studio SANAA for eight years and where the pair met) to ensure the glass façade would blur the boundaries between inside and out. ‘We wanted the threshold to feel more nuanced with layers of transition, so that even when you are inside the galleries, you feel outside and connect with the wider context,’ Liu explains.

Natural daylight is a key component of this experience. The designers added a series of scalloped aluminium screens, suspended from the ceiling, which filter direct sunlight to protect works of art exhibited in the galleries flanking the sculpture park. They also worked with London-based lighting consultants Speirs + Major to integrate ultra-fine continuous LED light strips within the miniscule space between each glass column, to allow the façade to be illuminated at night without affecting the interiors.

‘Glass is deceptively difficult to get right, and this form had never been done before, so we didn’t know exactly how it would look until the façade was installed,’ admits Cheng. ‘But I could see that SO-IL was pushing the materiality of glass to the point where its soft shape would create the feel of a sculpture park within a sculpture without taking away from the art.’

Cheng sees himself as both curator and creator when it comes to his projects, and says he always follows his instincts when selecting architects. ‘My design projects are a collaborative process,’ he explains. ‘It is difficult to explain why, but I just know when someone is the right fit for a particular project.’

For instance, at The Pavilia Farm, another groundbreaking project in Hong Kong, Cheng’s vision of an urban farm-inspired residential development has been given a harmonious boost by Snøhetta, who contributed a Scandinavian-style residential clubhouse. Meanwhile, the development’s 3,090 apartments are set in a pastoral landscape designed by environmental design consultant Ohtori, and there are also forested areas and contemporary barbecue pavilions, including one featuring an organic twisted timber form by Finnish architects Avanto.

And with an eye focused on creating a sustainable creative community at his Hangzhou Wangjiang New Town project in Mainland China, Cheng turned to Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and German architect Ole Scheeren to design an innovative 460,000-sq m, mixed-use cultural destination. The project, which is at the early conceptual design stage, is scheduled to be completed in 2025. 

‘I know what I want when it comes to creating soul in a project, so before I commission a designer, I want to see if they understand that, and are able to narrate the experience, values and spirit of the space,’ he says. ‘Then I leave it to them. We have to trust each other.’ 

A version of this article originally appeared in the January 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*261)

INFORMATION

K11 Art & Cultural Centre, 6/F, K11 Musea, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

k11musea.com

so-il.org

With 2020 feeling like an unending uphill climb, the open and collaborative sentiment championed by the cult New York designer Lauren Manoogian is a balm for the spirits we didn’t know we needed. The knitwear specialist is currently showcasing 21 vessels by the Parisian designer and artist Lætitia Jacquetton in her Manhattan showroom and online. Delicate, organic glass forms are uniquely paired with rocks foraged in the countryside.
 
‘Showcasing the work of other artists and craftspeople has been an intention for some time,’ Manoogian shares. ‘I like the idea of having a platform to highlight other people’s work that I love and feel inspired by. The first installment in Object came organically through travels to Peru and discovering the interesting ceramic traditions throughout different regions. Now more than ever as we are all pushed further into digital mediums, it feels very vital to have that sense of wonder and emotional connection to objects.’

In Jacquetton’s practice, the artist combines the traditional expertise of glass blowing, which she learnt in Murano, Italy and in Nancy, in Eastern France, with a keen sensitivity to the natural environment. Each of her sculptural pieces involves blowing glass around rocks that she has consciously selected from nature, while paying attention not to disturb the natural surroundings where they were found. Imbued with both a sense of rarity and reverence, these vessels poetically articulate a moment in time captured in solid form.
 
For Manoogian, who met Jacquetton in Paris several years ago, the similarities in their work boils down to the seemingly simplistic, yet transformative use of materials.
 
‘Both are sculptural and have very defined proportions but have a mutable quality that is arrived at in a very intuitive way,’ Manoogian reflects. ‘This makes them approachable and suitable for elevating daily life. In that way both of our work is very intimate in end use and also in the process. There is a tactility that is evident in both our work and experimentation to find that perfect tension point in materials that influences the final form. ’
 
Ultimately, it’s the deliberate connection to nature that Jacquetton’s vessels articulate, that capture the imagination. ‘I like and respect the intention and the uncontrollable elements in the process,’ Manoogian concludes. ‘There is an element of risk in making each piece as she is working quickly and utilizing gravity and fire—the end result is very gestural and encapsulates the moment when everything came together. That is what makes each piece so alive, so unique.’

INFORMATION

laurenmanoogian.com

It took Bethan Laura Wood a lightening quick two weeks from initial idea to final product in the development of her latest project, ‘Chain’, a duo of cast glass tables made in collaboration with Venetian glass manufacturer Wonderglass.

The British designer, known for her riotous colour palettes, rigorous research and artisan-centred design practice, joined compatriots John Pawson, Tom Dixon, Industrial Facility and Ross Lovegrove in the exhibition ‘London Venice: The Spirit of Resurgence’, which debuted at Venice Glass Week on 4 September 2020.

Glass designs by Bethan Laura Wood: the ‘Chain’ collection

‘There wasn't enough time to make new moulds or new forms,’ Wood explains of the project, which was organised in a whirlwind in early July 2020. Instead, unable to travel to the Wonderglass factory in Venice due to the pandemic, they let her loose in the material archive in their London showroom, where she happened upon a series of moulds formerly used to make 1960s-era table lamps. ‘We decided to use these bricks, which come in three different sizes, as our building blocks. 95 per cent of the table is made from these existing elements.’

Wood then sliced and stacked the resulting glass blocks in an interlocking chain to create the base of each table. The design pays homage to Japanese and Korean wooden joinery — which makes use of jigsaw-like connections rather than nails and glue — employed in traditional temple architecture that Wood has been documenting in recent years on trips throughout Asia. ‘We then added a polished detail on the edges further reference Japanese shrines,’ she says.

‘During the lockdown, I was going through a lot of the photographs that I took during my travels and starting to digest and read a little bit about these construction techniques,’ she explains of how the idea for the design was seeded, ‘and I was really interested in the architectural quality of the cast glass Wonderglass works with. I thought it would be an interesting conversation between material and construction.’

The exhibition was conceived as a creative bridge between London designers and Murano glassmakers, many of whom have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. ‘The Covid-19 emergency has not been merciful,’ says Wonderglass founder Maurizio Mussati of the project, which he hopes will encourage more UK-based designers to commission and collaborate with Venetian artisans.

‘Many of our local partners, and the blown glass Masters, in particular, were affected. However, the spirit of Venice is resilient and is slowly but certainly coming back: there is a renewed sense of traditions and a vibrant resolution to affirm it.’ 

INFORMATION

bethanlaurawood.com
wonderglass.com

The contradictions inherent in glass have long fascinated jewellers who are drawn to the wealth of possibilities it offers. Today a sustainable alternative, glass jewellery is utilised to reduce environmental impact. Contemporary jewels draw on the rich history of glass in jewellery, its inclusion unfailingly rendering antique and new pieces alike wholly modern.

Francesca Villa at Objet d’Emotion

Francesca Villa delves into a historical jewellery box for her delicate rings crafted from early nineteenth century Venetian glass beads. Long prized for their beauty, glass beads were often a form of currency for tribes on the African continent who commissioned them for trade from European explorers. Francesca Villa, enticed by the unique spotted finish on the beads, uses a gold post studded with diamonds to attach a single bead to a band, creating a ring. By sculpting a flat base at the bottom of the band, she allows for the ring to stand alone, a beautiful miniature sculpture in its own right.

Annika Inez

‘I am drawn to glass because of its ability to be both bold and barely there at the same time – it is both minimalist and maximalist,’ says New York-based jeweller Annika Inez. Her twisting loops of glass nod to its ability to appear frozen in time, caught between its two states of liquid and solid. ‘I love that glass is an amorphous solid,’ she says. ‘Transparent hand-shaped glass has a visual quality, looking like it might melt at any moment.’ She is inspired by Swedish artist Åsa Jungnelius, whose bold and generous silhouettes belie the apparent fragility of glass. ‘I feel there are great possibilities with glass in that traditionally it has been thought of as more of a crafty ‘hippie’ material, so there is a larger unexplored realm of art and design still available.’

A La Vieille Russie

New York-based antiques dealer A La Vieille Russie have glass pieces dating back two centuries in their collection. Their jewels reflect designers’ fascinations with passing trends; many pieces, for example, are crafted from glass paste, which was favoured in the late nineteenth century by jewellers looking to emulate precious stones. Glass paste, a type of glass developed by glassmakers who experimented with lead oxide, was foiled and backed in silver, eventually becoming a desirable material in its own right. Other pieces, such as the reverse crystal cat brooch, were the result of popular yet laborious techniques. Peter Schaffer, director of A La Vieille Russie, explains: ‘First, the cabochon form is cut and ground by hand. Next, a draft in watercolour is made on the reverse, followed by scratching, and then engraving, the image into the crystal before painting. The three-dimensional effect created by this technique really brings the pieces to life.’ René Lalique was another who was fascinated by the possibilities glass could offer – pictured above are his crystal wasps linked by an enamelled vine; a tantalising mix of fragility and malevolence.

Cled

Cled’s focus on sustainable jewellery led them to an organic emphasis on glass. ‘Glass is an eco-friendly material composed of sand and is a renewable resource, which means it can be recycled endlessly without a loss of purity,’ explains founder Seulye Jo. They upcycle discarded glass bottles in a plethora of hues and patterns and curve them into any shape they desire – an abstract amorphous contour, an oval loop, a flower. ‘It's always mesmerising to see the fluid movement of glass as heat and gravity work together in the flame. This magical transition is so impressive. Glass can look like liquid when it's molten, but after it's annealed, it is rock solid like any other stone.’ By melting glass in a kiln, curves and kinks can be reshaped, smooth lines forming from sharp edges. ‘Many experiments are done with recycled glass, and discovering unexpected outcomes makes this fun and ultimately leads to new unconventional designs,’ says Seulye Jo.

INFORMATION

objetdemotion.com
annikainez.com
alvr.com
thecled.com

English National Ballet’s 70 dancers and 50 staff have relocated from a Victorian mews in Kensington to a £36m translucent box in east London.

The five-storey, 93,000 sq ft structure is one of a cluster of new blocks by Glenn Howells Architects. Together, they make up Hopewell Square, which sits on London City Island, a peninsula on the Thames reached via Ramboll’s red footbridge from Canning Town station.

GHA director Dan Mulligan says of the interior: ‘We wanted it to have the feel of a converted warehouse – lean, raw and industrialised.' Hence the liberal use of concrete. ‘We love the fact that concrete has tonnes of personality,' he adds. Meanwhile the translucency is achieved with big sheets of extra-white industrialised glass.

On the ground floor is a reception area and café, which is open to the public, and a production studio complete with fly tower and bleacher seating that packs away. Zigzagging up the building is a wide staircase of sheet metal with a timber floor and hand rail, and a strip of lighting running along underside.

Upstairs houses seven full-sized rehearsal rooms (with ceilings high enough to perform a lift), a room with rush matting on the floor where dancers do their stretching, a gym and costume workshop four times the size of the old one.

In ENB’s previous home, many of these facilities were either not fit for purpose or off-site. That includes the English National Ballet School, which has moved into the top two floors. Some of these spaces can be rented out to bring in extra income.

Mulligan and his team visited dance institutions around the world to glean ideas. Hence the pigeon holes in the studios where dancers can store belongings, and the internal windows which give the building’s users views into rehearsals.

The ENB, which marks its 70th anniversary this year, is not the only arts organisation on the peninsula. It will be joined by Nicholas Hare Architects’ new home for London Film School.

INFORMATION

glennhowells.co.uk

The 1930s art deco Seattle Asian Art Museum has gained an uplifting modern extension that reconnects the building to its surrounding park – and the museum’s 21st century future. Seattle-based LMN Architects is behind the transformation that seamlessly merges old with new.

Before thinking about the future, however, the first priority for LMN was the restoration of this iconic ‘local treasure’. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum was designed by Bebb and Gould in 1933 as the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). When SAM moved to a new Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates-designed building, the Asian Art Museum, dedicated to collections of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and South Asian art, split off and opened up at the original art deco digs in 1994.

The addition of new functions to the museum – such as spaces for education and art conservation – was integral. The answer comes in the form of a minimal glass and sandstone extension, in which visitors will find added exhibition space, a conservation studio, auditorium and community education space.

While distinct in material and design, the modern extension also assimilates with the circulation of the original museum, and its location in the heart of Volunteer Park. A new lobby echoes the existing two art deco lobbies that draw visitors through from the front steps to the exhibitions. Materiality and texture of the interiors create a seamless flow.

The glazed exterior was a way to connect people in the park to the museum, allowing it to become more ‘open and expressive’. ‘Now, everyone in the park can get a sense of what is happening within and the contemporary addition creates new opportunities for serendipitous social interactions inside the museum,’ says LMN's design partner Wendy Pautz.

INFORMATION

seattleartmuseum.org

ADDRESS

Seattle Asian Art Museum
1400 E. Prospect Street
Seattle
Washington 98112
US

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The 21st edition of Designblok, the Czech Republic’s largest design festival, made a point this year of looking forward. Under the banner ‘Ahoj!’, or, ‘Future!’, curators assembled 348 participants for the occasion, which spanned the design fair, a talks program, fashion section and a performing arts element. ‘For this year, we chose the theme Future,’ remarked Designblok founder Jana Zielinski in her opening speech, ‘because we think designers will have a role in making the world a better place.’

Slightly more subdued that last year’s blockbuster twentieth-anniversary edition, a strong showing of independent local designers and brands proved that Czech design still has reason to celebrate. The fair was organised into four sections, all housed at Prague’s ornately rendered Industrial Palace, an Art Nouveau convention centre designed and built in the late 19th century.

The main sections were Art House, a curated selection of work bundled under the theme ‘Odyssey’, Open Studio, featuring independent designers and studios, Superstudio, which hosted larger scale brands and producers, and Designérie, the fair’s main stage and central gathering place, which took the form of a futuristic destination dreamed up by Czech designer Lucie Koldova.

‘By choosing the Future as the main topic of Designblok 2019 festival, the organisers highlighted their lasting focus on emerging young designers,’ jury member Eva Slunečková tells Wallpaper*. ‘The amount of new talents, approaches and high-quality products featured in Prague was truly exceptional this year.’

Below, explore four rising star designers that caught our eye in Prague...

Dominika Petrtýlová

After hours were the inspiration for Dominika Petrtýlová’s new series of hand-painted glass vases, shown within the Art House section. ‘With Party Vase I resurrected the phenomenon of rococo vases, whose typical motifs were the erotic adventures of contemporaneous nobility,’ explains Petrtýlová of the inspiration behind the narrative objects, which show couples locking lips under glowing neon after stumbling out of a bar, post last call, ‘However, the subtle and sublime amour of the 1700s was replaced by the psychedelic intoxication in the obscurity of 21st Century.’

Lukas Novak

For his Lost and Found collection, Novaks rediscovered a 200-year-old glass colouring technique — Lithyalin, named for its resemblance to agate stone — which was first invented in 1818 in his hometown of Novy Bor, the Czech glass blowing capital. To achieve the opaque, psychedelic surface pattern, Novak mixes multiple colours of glass and metal, each with a different melting point, and then casts the piece in place with a mould, shedding new light on the ancient process.

Sebastian Kitzberger

Czech-based Sebastian Kitzberger presented Barrels, a series of clever glass vessels described as a ‘reinterpretation of classical shapes via deliberate and artificial destruction of canonical morphology.’ The pieces were given traditional forms — round bodies in varying colours and sizes — though rather than preserving their unsullied profile, Kitzberger etches graffiti-like markings into their surface, shifting the project towards what he describes as ‘the level of aestheticism.’

Jiří Krejčiřík

Czech designer Jiří Krejčiřík presented two separate projects at Designblok this year. His squat coffee tables, Kalokagathos and Odyssey, were shown within the moody confines of the Art House — complete with simulated wind and a video loop of a vast and stormy ocean to drive home the section’s Odyssey-inspired theme — which he described as ‘representing a dialogue between the aesthetics of ancient Greece and the aesthetical work by Slovenian architect Josip Plecnik.’ Over at Openstudio, he launched glass-based project HERITAGE/CONTEMPORARY, which fused traditional hand-cut vessels with newly blown pieces to create a series of clever totems. 

INFORMATION

designblok.cz/en

Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, Shanghai’s West Bund Museum, which houses the Pompidou Centre’s first overseas branch, is part of the city’s master plan to see a nearly-nine-square-kilometre piece of industrial land transformed into one of Asia’s prime cultural districts by the end of next year. It is also the practice’s seventh completed project in China since it opened a representative office in the city in 2005.

Situated on the Shanghai Corniche, which enjoys an uninterrupted shoreline of nearly 11.5km, the new West Bund district will see 20 cultural and art institutions along the stretch. Among them are Sou Fujimoto’s Yuz Museum, Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee’s Shanghai Center of Photography, the Long Museum by local firm Atelier Deshaus and Tank Shanghai by Open Architecture. The West Bund Museum, the latest-comer, sits on a triangular plot on the northern edge of a new public park where Longteng Avenue and the Huangpu River converge.

The architects were given a fairly generic brief for the museum when the project was commissioned in 2013, and the idea of the three independent yet interlocking volumes came from the possibility that there would be multiple users for its 22,000sqm of exhibition and event spaces. The Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project, as it is known, is part of a Sino-French cultural collaboration to import curated exhibitions from the French institution to the museum for the next five years, although the ambitious scheme was confirmed only when the building was almost built. Alexander Schwarz, design lead of the project recalls: ‘Pompidou could have lived with some other arrangement. When they came in, we did some reinterpretation of what was already built.’

Traditionally, a museum is built because there is a collection to house. ‘It's quite easy to build a good museum around a good collection. You just make sure the artworks look good and you create the optimum encounter between the visitors and the art,’ he says. ‘The West Bund Museum was the opposite – the content came afterwards. It's almost as though you abstract architectural scenes and develop them in a way that could work for other uses as well. But in the end, it's all about good spaces and good light.’

The three volumes set around a central lobby with a double-height atrium – each 17m high and sited over two storeys – are covered in opalescent recycled glass. The upper levels are given to gallery space while the lower levels are multifunctional and include art studios, education spaces, a bookshop and a café. The atrium roof cantilevers beyond the building towards the river and road; it also features a huge, supporting column that draws the eye to the entrances.

Schwarz says: ‘There is another aspect to this building, which is its publicness. The foyer spaces are highly accessible and their views to the city are something that won’t change. And I think the architecture can rely on this. And whatever people do here, or the content they create, will be put in the context of this extraordinary setting.’

The unique economic and social environment in China certainly inspires new ways of thinking and designing. ‘When the museum was being built, it was expected all to be clad. But this experience with refitting the building has allowed us to experiment on the possibilities of the concrete structure with daylight. Everything in China happens quite organically and it’s almost like dealing with nature. You need to find alternative strategies in order to work there,’ he says.

INFORMATION

davidchipperfield.com

The first time Thomas Stearns attempted to have his glass vessels made, he was unceremoniously thrown out of the Venetian studio by an enraged and insulted master. Ignoring the traditional craft’s prescription for symmetry and balance, his soulful, organic vessels proved too radical for the orthodox sensibilities of the artisan. ‘After showing him his drawings and models,’ retells Venice Glass Week organiser David Landau, ‘he began shouting at him and showing him the door, claiming he could never work for such a freak.’

The native Oklahoman had arrived in Venice in 1960 on a Fulbright scholarship, having first seen the work of Venini in a magazine stateside. Stearns sought out the businessman and his cabal of glass masters to learn how to render in 3D the two-dimensional glasswork that he had already been producing in America. Eventually, he was able to find a young and more open-minded glassmaker to realise his visions, but the indignities didn’t end there.

His prized pieces ‘Cappello del Doge’ and ‘Facciate di Venezia’ were awarded the prestigious Gold Lion for glasswork (once a category unto itself) at the 31st Biennale in 1962, but the honour was stripped when it was realised the artist wasn’t a native Italian. ‘They gave the prize to the second best,’ Landau says of the historic scandal.

Sixty years after Stearns, attitudes have certainly changed. Venice Glass Week, now in its third year, is presenting a retrospective of his work as the headlining event. Curated by glass historian Marino Barovier and shown at Le Stanze Del Vetro on San Giorgio Maggiore island, the exhibition gathers some of the most prized pieces Stearns created during his time at Venini, shining a light on the technical skill and inspired forms that went so unappreciated at the time. In addition to the Stearns show, the Murano Glass Museum is presenting a selection of work from mid-century Finnish artist and graphic designer Tapio Wirkkala, whose exceptional work fuses Scandinavian design sense with the material possibilities of Venetian glass.

More than just an accounting of the past, Venice Glass Week looks towards the future. Spanning 180 events and exhibitions over nine days, the program brings international attention to the myriad of talented contemporary designers working in Murano. Concerned with the dwindling numbers of operational furnaces and onslaught of cheap fake souvenirs shipped in from abroad, Landau founded Venice Glass Week as a way of promoting and preserving the millennium-old art.

‘The main goal is to help Murano to heal its wounds,’ Landau says of his goals for the project, ‘and become a centre for the production of 21st century, high-quality artistic glass.’ Channelling the global gaze towards local artisans and the international artists that, like Stearns, travel to Venice to have their work realised, Landau hopes that it will set the wheels in motion for the industry to rebound.

In addition to the Le Stanze Del Vetro and Murano Glass Museum exhibitions, the newly inaugurated Venice Glass Week Hub presented a group show of contemporary designers spread over multiple locations. Supported by auction house Bonhams, a prize was awarded for the most original work. This year, the first edition, was won by Barbini Specchi, who presented a series of ornately wrought mirrors designed by the likes of Bethan Laura Wood, Martino Gamper and Lucia Massari.

‘Here, you really find the best glassblowers,’ declares Landau, ‘but it’s a question of opening up Murano to the contemporary world.’ He points to programs such as AUTONOMA by local artist and entrepreneur Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda, which connects artists working from abroad with skilled local glass artisans in hopes of disseminating and promoting the historic craft. ‘More and more artists are coming, younger artists are coming,’ he says of the mission, ‘it's a sign that things are moving.’

INFORMATION

theveniceglassweek.com

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the winner of them all? At the awards ceremony celebrating Venice Glass Week, the answer to that riddle was Barbini Specchi Veneziani, the almost century-old artisanal mirror producer based out of the island of Murano, who scooped the inaugural Bonhams Prize for the best project participating in the festival.

Curated by local architectural studio Babau Bureau and third-generation glassmaker Pietro Barbini, the Venetians tapped the likes of Martino Gamper, Bethan Laura Wood, Lucia Massari and Sara Forte to create a series of spelling-binding mirrors that fuse the artisans’ ancient craft with the designers’ shared witty sensibilities. ‘This sprang from the desire to show that Murano glass art continues to evolve and develop on the back of its tradition,’ Barbini explains of the exhibition, entitled ‘Materia Eterea’ (Ethereal Matter).

Each designer was given free artistic reign and the expertise of an artisan to create their contribution. Martino Gamper took a customarily colourful approach, overlapping shaded fields around a transparent centre. Wood ‘decided to follow her passion for the world of fake food,’ describes Barbini of her wavy-edged piece. Combing modern water jet cutting techniques and traditional detailing, she was able to ‘emphasise the way in which this ancient tradition reflects the changes that have occurred in contemporary craftsmanship.’

Local designer Lucia Massari took a second look at the traditional Venetian mirror by mixing elements typically used to create frames — decorative flowers, leaves, garlands and rosettes — in a Mr Potato Head-style face that had a life of its own.

Staged within Palazzetto Tito, the headquarters of the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Babau Bureau was responsible for the install: ‘We decided to transform the glass works into characters living inside a traditional Venetian palace,’ they explain. ‘We tried to give to each work a specific place to stay, in a constant narration and dialogue between the rooms. So, ironically, glass faces are speaking to each other, reflections coming from the palace's windows are reflected by the mirrors and so on.’

Discussing the Bonhams prize, Barbini emphasises his optimism: ‘For us, this award is confirmation that what we had the right idea when we set out last year [to create this exhibition] and that all our effort was worth it,’ he explains, reflecting on the road to the big win. ‘This prize will encourage us to keep going with tradition and innovation, those two characteristics that have always made Murano and its glass art production great.’

INFORMATION

bonhams.com; theveniceglassweek.com; aavbarbini.it

‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever,’ Ann Demeulemeester replies when addressing the question of how the objects we choose to surround ourselves with – whether it’s a top or a teacup – impact our lives. The famous Oscar Wilde quote holds true for the Belgian fashion designer with her enduring broody aesthetic, a member of the Antwerp Six cohort, who departed from her namesake brand’s helm in 2014.

It was a life overhaul of sorts. In an effort to close that creative chapter of her life, she moved away from her Antwerp home – Maison Guiette, the house where her son Victor now lives and the only Le Corbusier structure left in Belgium – and into a 19th century country house with a floral park and a vegetable garden located on the outskirts of the province of Antwerp.

‘I wanted to return to the essence of things’, she explains. ‘Nature, growing my own vegetables. Make beautiful objects in which to present them.’ This impulse translated itself into a collection of homewares – porcelain plates and cutlery, glassware – produced with the Belgian company Serax, which will be presented in September at Maison et Objet in Paris.

Demeulemeester turned to the classical elements of earth, water and fire, to ‘experiment with one of the oldest forms of creation.’ The designer had always dreamed of using porcelain and glass as a creative language, and the three-dimensional aspect of sculpting clay was a natural continuation of her very personal creative hunger.

The idea to conceive of homeware lines with Serax took shape after a mutual friend introduced her to the dynamic Belgian company, which is based just 20 minutes from her new home. ‘Much more pleasant than having to take a plane abroad each time’, Demeulemeester tells. ‘We developed a respectful partnership through which I could fully realise my ideas and designs. For Serax, it was a huge challenge to produce my unique pieces on a larger scale, while retaining the craftsmanship.’

The interplay of light and shadow ties the Ra and Dé lines of tableware and the Zoë line of cutlery together, as well as echoing Demeulemeester’s intensely chiaroscuro fashion oeuvre – with red and green as the unexpected accents. ‘My whole life I’ve been preoccupied with beauty. It’s my passion, my “raison d’être”’, Demeulemeester explains. ‘I enjoy being able to make whatever it is I need, what challenges me, what I dream of’.

INFORMATION

anndemeulemeester.com; serax.com

An orgiastic frieze of genitalia, limbs and mouths seems an unlikely subject for a 173-year-old glass maker to hand-cut onto its refined crystal tableware. Yet that is exactly what the Czech company Rückl did when collaborating with Switzerland-based artist Marine Julié for this year’s Handmade.

The resulting ‘Constellations of Us’ vases and cups feature what Julié calls ‘a farandole of bisexual beings’, their curvaceous forms melding into, grasping and probing each other. This imagery is a trademark of Julié’s. She often paints it on walls and rock faces – large-scale sites befitting a trained architect. Her forms tend towards the gender fluid, combining male and female traits alongside some traces of the animal. She’s frequently asked, ‘Why women with dicks?’

The answer is multilayered. ‘It’s a kind of representation of myself – it’s much easier to speak about desire by representing myself with a dick. Because as a woman, culturally, I’m not supposed to talk about it, I’m not supposed to have an active part in that kind of situation,’ she explains. ‘But there is also an element of mythology, fantasy and collective unconscious,’ she continues, pointing to the recurrence of non-binary or trans-everything figures in nature, history and folklore. She considers her work a ‘poetry of beings’ that appear as their most essential selves.

Rückl, some might think, occupies a more conservative corner of the design world. How did it receive Julié’s art? ‘Many people worry about the representation of sexuality, but not them,’ says the artist. Marketing director Eva Kozarova explains that the company was relaunched in 2017 by new owner Martin Wichterle, with a mission to marry the classic and the contemporary – and it immediately took a shine to Julié’s work. ‘It is provocative, but also universal,’ Kozarova says. Besides, humans have only been painting orgies onto jugs for oh, the last few thousand years.

The first stage of the collaboration did bring a more pragmatic obstacle, however: Rückl wasn’t sure how to cut Julié’s energetic curved lines into glass. Typically, the cutting process is done on a sharp wheel, which spins in place as a craftsperson manoeuvres glass vessels onto it. This technique is used to produce multitudes of designs, from precise lattices to playful letterforms, but in no way can it cut a rounded shape. Any curves at Rückl were small details only, made with a hand-held engraving tool. And yet, there was never a sense this would derail the project.

‘When you work with craftsmen, there’s always someone who wants to find a solution,’ says Julié. To convey both the heft and expressiveness of the artist’s lines in glass, Rückl dug into its archives, found an old machine that was something of a cross between a cutter and an engraver, and started experimenting with it again. By the time Julié visited the factory, Rückl master glass cutter Jaroslav Mádle was a deft hand with the deep-cutting technique enabled by this tool. Julié and Mádle shared no common language, but they seemed to understand each other from the get-go. This was key to Julié, who says the ‘good feeling’ she always got with Mádle meant she could trust in the process.

On subsequent visits, Julié familiarised herself with glass by drawing directly onto it and trying traditional processes, while Mádle practised deep-cutting until he could produce the desired quality of cut. It’s a technique Rückl plans to continue using, both for other objects and, if all goes to plan, to make ‘Constellations of Us’ into a product line.

Meanwhile, Julié has finished the project with new insight into the many distinctive properties of glass – including, unfortunately, its fragility. Both vases and three of the four cups arrived in Milan for the Handmade exhibition in pieces, having broken during shipping. With only a few days until the opening, Rückl sprang into action. Mádle worked through the weekend to produce one more vase. The company’s managing director Ivica Franeta kept the temperamental object in sight as he drove it to Milan in his own car. Kozarova still has nightmares about it. ‘I love glass. It’s our passion,’ she says, coming back to the exhibition theme. ‘It’s beautiful but it’s like love: you cannot control it. And sometimes it makes you crazy.’

As originally featured in the August 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*245)

INFORMATION

marinejulie.com; ruckl.com

It’s hard to beat the luck of the Irish, but with regards to a new design collaboration between Irish crystal manufacturers J. Hill Standard and fellow countryman, the artist and illustrator Nigel Peake, it’s not just luck that’s on their side. The two have come together on a beautiful collection of crystal glassware that’s been named ‘Hand Drawn Glass’, which departs from the rigidly cut patterns of traditional cut crystal and embraces a more fluid approach to form and embellishment.

The collection is comprised of a limited edition series of four patterns, and complemented by an open edition of seven other patterns. Peake, who’s known for his intricate paintings and illustrations of build and unbuilt landscapes, has conceived three tumblers in various sizes, as well as a carafe, a decanter and a bowl. The designs embrace clean, elemental shapes and where deployed, cuts in the crystal reveal the imprint of the artist’s hand by capturing the spontaneous and fleeting movements of line drawing.

‘Making cut crystal comes with a heavy weight of visual history,’ explains J. Hill Standard’s founder Anike Tyrell. ‘I found someone who can draw in an effort to usurp the immutable cut patterns. We began to explore a more organic approach to making - honouring the hand that makes and showing it's imprint. The glass is both the drawing and the drawn upon - the creative impulse caught on the wing.'

For this new collection, the company has not only fused traditional craftsmanship with contemporary form, but championed new flourishes as well. Some of the designs are accompanied by robust, oak-wood lids (signed by Peake) that effortlessly transforming simple everyday shapes into versatile vessels, containers and jars that can be cleverly used away from the dining table.

Find the Hand Drawn Glass collection exhibited at Atelier Courbet in New York’s Chelsea district this month.

INFORMATION

nigelpeake.com

jhillsstandard.com

HASA Architects has transformed a derelict glasshouse into a modern, minimalist event space in a north London former nursery. Drawing on their fascination for beautiful sites and unconventional projects, the team of architects – headed by Charlotte Harris and Mark Stevens – worked to adjust, expand and bring the existing structure to the 21st century; all set amid a leafy landscaped site by designers Buono Gazerwitz Landscape Architecture. 

The architects approached the current owners, Karen and Lekhu Pagarani, in 2017, proposing the update of the neglected glasshouse in Highgate, and despite time and budgetary constraints, they created a striking space that combines glass and birch plywood. The ply panels are finished in white Osmo oil for a light, smooth feel, while careful detailing and architectural gestures, such as replacing the original doors with plywood ones, create a sense of seamlessness and coherence throughout. 

The simple nature of the original architecture served as a source of inspiration, so the interiors are now suitably clean and uncluttered – fittingly so, for a multi-functional space that caters for a range of activities, from talks to exhibitions and other private and community events. Flexibility was key and the architects went back a few months after completion to adapt the space even further, adding a functioning kitchen to the mix.

Now, the glasshouse at Omved Gardens is a thriving place for inspiration and events of all kinds, and its contemporary, well thought out architecture plays a key role in that. ‘The project aims to explore the possibilities of this forgotten piece of the city', say the architects on their website; and it sounds like thanks to their design, this architectural space is now back at the heart of the local community. 

INFORMATION

hasa-architects.com

We’re seeing the French Riviera in a new light this week. On the sun-kissed Cannes Promenade lays a Technicolor pavilion, powerfully mirroring the palms, sea and sand, courtesy of Instagram and Latvian designer Germans Ermičs.

Made for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the experiential edifice follows last year’s commission by Es Devlin – a filmic structure of storytelling. Ermičs’ brief from Instagram was relatively simple: follow the theme of ‘Where The Rainbow Ends’ (the title of the work). This came rather naturally to the Amsterdam-based designer, given his affinity for poetically incorporating gradient hues into his work. In his signature slant, Ermičs offers a taste of the rainbow with a mammoth 50 sq m glass cabin.  

Part artwork, part architectural endeavour, the installation marks the first time Ermičs has worked on this scale – ‘this is a properly engineered structure,’ he tells us. ‘It is very different scale-wise, which meant I had to collaborate with an engineer. The structure is not temporary, its watertight and air-conditioned, not just cladding’.

Intended as a holistic experience, the strong gradient tones have a faded effect with a 360-degree perspective, so technically you can reach the end of the ‘rainbow’. Step around the structure and see the spectrum’s effect on your own body, and step inside for something more minimal. ‘I wanted to evoke a sense of discovery and wonder,’ Ermičs explains. Light effects by London based Urban Electric deliver this, and guide visitors into the cove where lies a white bench, with an electronic soundtrack of Domenique Dumont playing in the background.

The multisensory showcase offers new dimensions to Ermičs’ work, and as a free festival, it takes his ombre edge to the next level. ‘I have been waiting for this moment, where I can bring my work to this new scale. In terms of size and public space, it’s not just a design event for an exclusive audience, it’s very accessible.’ While technically complicated to engineer, Ermičs and Instagram made sure the experience could effectively communicate with human senses.

For Instagram, the project anchors its support of diverse cultural entities. ‘The rainbow has long been a symbol of new life and hope across cultures,’ the brand says. The use of glass alludes to The Glass Lions too – a cooperation recognising work that has a positive impact on the world.

In the flurry of beachfront installations popping up during the festival, the eternal reflection, prismatic presence and Instagram-worthy snap of ‘Where The Rainbow Ends’ is sure to last beyond the week.

INFORMATION
Cannes Lions Festival is open until 21 June. For more information visit the website

A glass prism has appeared in an East London back garden. Geometric, transparent and glistening, it is the work of emerging London studio DROO – Da Costa Mahindroo Architects, founded by husband-and-wife team Michel da Costa Gonçalves and Amrita Mahindroo, who split their time between London, Paris and Melbourne, while bridging experience from four different continents; this is a truly international pair.

The design – fulfilling a fairly typical brief for a renovation and extension of a Victorian townhouse – is equally dynamic. The architects worked with the existing property, refining and transforming inside and out, both fine-tuning and modernising the original interior, and adding the glass volume at the back, extending towards the garden. 

The glass ‘verandah' contains the kitchen and dinning areas for this three-bedroom family home. Creating a bright and welcoming space, the structure is also meticulously and rigorously designed to create ‘seamless continuity between interior and exterior, layering the old with the new', explain the architects. Clever engineering means services (drainage, insulation, wiring and electrics) are hidden within an exposed brick wall and the gravity-defying structural glass appears light, clean and minimal – takings its cues, formally, from the area's shapes and roofscape. 

The architects similarly streamlined the existing house's interior, using crisp lines and surfaces throughout, mixing past and present by maintaining original features and adding contemporary fitted furniture and tailor made accents – such as the kitchen's bespoke island and cabinetry.

The team, who have been behind acclaimed work such as Bethnal Green's Town Hall Hotel and the Viajante restaurant and bar (created under their previous name, RARE Architecture), have plenty more in the pipeline; including high end residential apartments in London, an office and hotel complex in Paris, and private houses. 

INFORMATION

For more information visit the DROO website

The picturesque landscape of the Faroe Islands has just received a new architectural addition in the shape of the Glasir Tórshavn College by Copenhagen based international architecture firm BIG. The building is designed to combine context and strong, sculptural, modern design.

The new structure is essentially a complex of different functions, comprising within a single, coherent design the Faroe Islands Gymnasium, Tórshavn Technical College and the Business College of Faroe Islands – effectively becoming home for a over 1,750 students, teachers and staff. Sitting on the edges of the island's capital of Tórshavn, the Glasir (as it's more informally, locally known) balances an urban scale with a certain lightness of touch, and views of the sea and greenery beyond the city, which connect it to its context. 

Since the scheme mixes many different uses, functionality and a clever internal arrangement were key to the design. BIG opted for a structure that is ‘organised like a vortex', explain the architects, with five levels planned around a central courtyard. There's ‘one [level] for each of the three institutions, one for food and faculty, and one for physical exercise and gatherings', the team adds. The circular void at the heart of the building is a stepped, architectural landscape that mirrors the natural one outside, and allows space for meeting, relaxing and socialising for students and staff.

Connections to the outdoors were equally important for the team, so the external materials chosen – glass and aluminium – were picked for their lightness and transparency, allowing for the views and setting to take centre stage. All areas of the building open up to the surroundings, with the top levels, in particular, cantilevering out towards the mountainous scenery. Adding to this balance is the complex's rooftop, which is planted with grass that will grow to eventually ‘allow the education center to disappear into the Faroese landscape'. 

‘Inspired by the dramatic Faroese topography, Glasir is designed like a landscape for learning: the central space of the school is conceived as a topographical interpretation of the natural landscape — a continuous terraced terrain with steps and staircases that connect across several levels and merge the multistory building into a single entity', says BIG founder and creative director Bjarke Ingels.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the BIG website

Watch the making of the ’Melt’ collection by Nendo for WonderGlass

Appearing like ice sculptures, frozen in time, WonderGlass' latest collection of clear glass furniture sees the brand collaborate with master of minimalism Oki Sato and his Tokyo-based studio Nendo. The gravity-formed pieces mark the Venice-based brand's move into furniture design, expanding on its existing collection of lighting and objects.

Titled ‘Melt,’ the collection sees the designer pair simple arch shapes with flat panels to form elegant chairs, tables, stools, benches and tabletop pieces with bumpy, imperfect surfaces, which lend them an icy appearance.

‘The Melt Collection pushes the boundaries and capabilities of cast glass,’ say WonderGlass founders Maurizio and Christian Mussati. ‘Nendo has explored the molten liquid nature of the material with incredible skill.’

The collection follows on from a series of glass objects by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, which the brand launched during last year's Salone del Mobile. Nendo's collection, fittingly named Melt, allows the material to direct the design process using gravity as main characteristic of this labour-intensive production technique.

Made by the skilled team of craftsmen at the brand's factory in Venice, each piece begins as a vat of molten glass scooped out of an oven, poured onto a surface and rolled out like dough to create an even thickness. Still red hot, the glowing glass sheet is then carefully draped over a steel pipe, which gives it its melted form.
 
The piece is left to cool for a few minutes before being prised away from the pipe and lifted into an annealing oven, called a Lehr. The whole process involves a carefully orchestrated symphony of timings and temperatures and requires the team of eight or so craftsmen to work together as one to avoid any mistakes, which can ruin the entire process. If the temperature is just a degree out or the glass stays a few seconds too long in the Lehr it can crack or shatter as it cools.

‘I was inspired by looking at the workshops, looking at the people working, using the melted material,’ said Sato of the design and development process. ‘The main idea was to let the glass flow by itself using gravity and using the weight of glass itself. In a way, doing less and achieving more is the most complicated thing to do.’

Melt will be presented during IMM Cologne (14-20 January) with an exhibition at the city's 25hours Hotel. The presentation, which will see the furniture presented alongside a photographic exhibition will serve as a preview of WonderGlass’ upcoming installation at Salone del Mobile in April later this year.

INFORMATION

’Melt’ will be on view at IMM Cologne. For more information, visit the Wonderglass website

See more highlights from IMM Cologne here

Traditional bricks-and-mortar retailing may be in retreat, but RH’s chairman and CEO Gary Friedman has doubled down on investing in the physical experience. In the last two years, the US interiors brand has opened ten new stores – all ambitious in scale – in cities including Austin, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Portland, Toronto and Dallas.

The latest, and the jewel in the crown, is a mammoth new retail location in New York City – a 90,000 sq ft, six-level temple in Manhattan’s bustling Meatpacking District that brings RH’s interiors, outdoors, modern, baby, child and teen collections – along with a rooftop restaurant and wine bar, and its in-house interior design department – all together under one roof.

RH New York, The Gallery in the Historic Meatpacking District – as it has been named – occupies a landmark building, originally owned by real estate magnate John Jacob Astor in the late 19th century. Reworked by architect James Gillam of the firm Backen, Gillam & Kroeger, the building, on a cobbled patch of 9th Avenue, is now a contemporary vision in steel and glass that seamlessly incorporates its meticulously preserved original brick façade, while boasting additional cast-iron I-beams that reference the neighbourhood’s grittier past.

‘We liked the irreverence and soul of the Meatpacking,’ explains Friedman, who has been leading the charge (and change) at RH since returning to the company in 2013 after a brief hiatus. ‘At its core, it’s a neighbourhood of originals, and leaders – Florent [sadly no more], Pastis [closed but set to re-open], the first Soho House outside of London, Diane Von Furstenberg’s modern steel-and-glass rooftop penthouse, the High Line, the Standard. It also offers us control of an entire building on an iconic corner with views of downtown and Freedom Tower, in a low-rise district that is flooded in sunlight, versus the shady streets dominated by high rises in most other districts. We loved the architectural challenge of having to keep the historic brick façade, and reimagine what it could become.’

Indoors, each of RH’s collections has a dedicated floor. Flanked by cast-iron columns and topped off with a giant skylight that floods the space with natural light, a central atrium houses a glass-encased elevator and a double staircase. It is within this transitional stairway space that a particularly dramatic moment occurs. Spanning the 90ft height of the store, an intricate light-and-glass installation by designer Alison Berger (W*184) cascades down through the six-storey stairwell on both sides. The piece, entitled New York Night, evokes a rainstorm that occurs just as night falls over Gotham City.

Berger sought to convey the feeling of being caught in the rain in New York. ‘The city looks so beautiful when it’s raining,’ she explains of its origins. ‘I thought about the reflections that happen when you take shelter in a stairwell or underneath a fire escape, and watch the city evolve into this almost impressionistic painting as it rains – the whole city gets soft. That was really the inspiration; to take this beautiful architectural setting and soften it with these points of light that randomly fall from the sky, all the way through the space.’

Berger’s involvement came about organically, after she had a chance run-in with Friedman and was invited to visit RH’s HQ. A few months later, RH got back in touch, commissioning her to design the central stairwell installation. ‘It was pretty easy to know that I wanted to draw something through the entire verticality of the stair, that talks about what it means to circulate through the space,’ says Berger. ‘You don’t really get the opportunity to drop something six storeys that often.’

While it feels like the installation has been formed by chance, a complex algorithm determined exactly where each pendant should be placed to achieve that natural rhythm, and also ensured that the work would look different when viewed on each floor. ‘The piece constantly changes wherever you are on the stairs,’ explains the LA-based designer. ‘Elevationally, you’re expressing the glass and the hardware and the beauty of the craftsmanship that went into the pendants, then as you go up, you’re aware of the verticality and how it actually feels like stop-action photography. From the lowest floor up, it becomes a constellation. These points of hovering light look like they are fireflies floating up the stairwell. That’s the beauty of something sculptural and so spatial like this – it’s constantly evolving; it’s not static.’

Berger’s attention to detail extends not only to the shape of the crystal bulbs, each an attenuated drop, but also to the fittings that hold them, which were inspired by the opening of an umbrella. Even the charcoal plaster finish of the stairwell’s walls is a nod to the asphalt of the New York City streets.

Berger’s commission is part of RH’s larger mission to support independent artists and designers in both its collections and retail spaces. For the artist, it was simply an opportunity not to be missed. ‘It’s so exciting to have the chance to bring this language to the public, so that more people can connect with it and share what I see,’ she says. ‘That was what was so motivating about these gallery spaces. You’re not going there to see art, yet there’s a six-storey art installation. It’s not just about what’s being sold.’

As originally featured in the November 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*236)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Restoration Hardware website and the Alison Berger Glassworks website

ADDRESS

RH New York
9 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10014

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Venice Glass Week kicks off this September, the Venetian Lagoon’s second edition of this international festival devoted to its deeply-rooted artisanal heritage of glassmaking. The city will host more than 180 events throughout Venice, Murano, and Mestre and this year’s lineup and festival, a remarkable exhibition of craftsmanship and expertise, is realised by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini/Le Stanze del Vetro and Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, and the Consorzio Promovetro Murano.

Also taking place alongside the festival is ‘Homo Faber: Crafting a More Human Future’, the first major exhibition dedicated to European craft artistry that will display traditional, rare, and contemporary work – in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship. Here we highlight the the unmissable exhibitions at Glass Week...

The M.V.M. Cappellin Glassworks and the Young Carlo Scarpa 1925-1931

Vase in coral red pasta vitrea with amethyst decoro fenicio and finishings in coral-red pasta vitrea.

Curated by Marino Barovier, this is the first comprehensive overview of Murano’s storied M.V.M Cappellin & C and its glassworks produced between the 1920s and early 1930s. The show is centred on an instrumental collaboration under the artistic direction of a then young Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa before his term at Venini. His notable contributions in glass included pure geometric forms and vases in lattimo, incamiciato, and pasta vitrea exhibiting vibrant hues of coral red, turquoise, green, and yellow and revealing a ceramic-like opaque quality, while other works are meticulously decorated in feathering ‘fenicio’ effects and gold leaf applications.

10 September - 6 January 2018; Le Stanze del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, IIsola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 8, 30124 Venezia VE; www.lestanzedelvetro.org

The Skin of Glass: Carlo Scarpa at Venini 1936-1942

Carlo Scarpa, Corroso a bugne, 1936-38, collezione private

Following his short-lived tenure at the now closed M.V.M. Cappellin & C, Carlo Scarpa generated an impressive portfolio of advanced glass techniques and undertakings at the famed Venini Glassworks during a 15-year period. Also curated by Marino Barovier, this exhibition will display 15 key vases and vessels from private collections at the Scarpa-designed Olivetti Showroom. The architect’s glassworks at Venini – a kaleidoscope of exterior textures – revealed evidence of progressive experimentation in opal to create undulating motions, hydrofluoric acid-applied eroded surfaces, and a precise grating technique to create an exterior of nodules.

9 September - 6 January 2018; Olivetti, Piazza San Marco, 101, 30124 Venezia VE

Mario Bellini in Murano. The Architecture of Glass, The Glass of Architecture

©Mario Bellini per Venini-Spa

The Murano Glass Museum collaborates with Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia on a retrospective of celebrated Milanese architect and designer Mario Bellini, focusing solely on his extensive modern glass practices. Viewers will be able to follow the breadth of Bellini’s glassworks from his lively clusters of chromatic vases and its unique configurations for Venini to signature furniture, including Plissè for Glas Italia, a coffee table conceived in a seamlessly folded shape. The exhibition itself, also designed by Bellini, will reveal his innovative blown glass production processes through prototypes and research in a 20-metre-long stretch of displays.

9 September - 2 December 2018; Murano Glass Museum, Fondamenta Marco Giustinian, 8, 30141 Venezia VE; www.bellini.it

Wonderglass at Venice Glass Week and Light Blowing Festival 2018

Returning for the second time at Venice Glass Week, WonderGlass exhibits at three different locations. At BTM’s (Breaking the Mould) space-workshop in Murano, WonderGlass’ collaboration with architect and designer Marco Zito will be on display. Titled The NASSE Collection, the glass pieces reflect the subtleties of the Venetian lagoon environment like morning sunset colours on the water, winter light, and fog effects.

Showing at Fondaco Marcello as part of the annual Light Blowing exhibition, Cristina Celestino unveils Physalis, delicate glass reproductions of the lantern shape that allow light and colour reveal the bubbles encased within them. Elsewhere at Giorgio Mastinu Fine Art Gallery, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s highly-regarded Alcova collection (pictured) that launched at this year’s Salone del Mobile will be on view. Made of elegant molten cast glass alcoves, the vases will illuminate their new context alongside new curious drawings by Ronan.

Alcova will be on view 6 - 12 September 2018 at Giorgio Mastinu Fine Art Gallery, 126 S. MARCO, Venezia, VE 3012; The NASSE Collection will be on view from 9 -16 September at the BTM space-workshop, Campiello San Maffio 3, 30141, Murano; Physalis at Light Blowing will be on view from 9 - 30 September at Fondaco Marcello 30124, Calle del Traghetto, 3415, 30123 Venezia VE; www.wonderglass.com

INFORMATION

Venice Glass Week is on view 8-15 September. For more information, visit the website

Increasingly popping up in hip bars on both sides of the Atlantic is pétillant naturel (or pét-nat), a gently sparkling wine. This new trend is actually the revival of an ancient technique, méthode ancestrale, where fermentation is halted in winter and restarted in spring. The result is unfiltered full flavours and a finer bubble.

‘I love pét-nats because they break the monopoly of champagne and prosecco,’ says Pierre Malouf, general manager at Ottolenghi restaurants. ‘They are fresh, not too high in alcohol, and have a serious backbone. To me, they embody the winemaker’s relationship with his or her land and grapes.’

One such winemaker is Ben Walgate of Tillingham Wines in East Sussex. When he released a pét-nat last year, it sold out in five days. ‘Our farming is organic, we don’t use sulfites and we foster biodiversity. This gives the wine a unique taste and sense of place,’ he says.

Now his wine is stocked at the likes of natural wine champions The Laughing Heart in Hackney and Terroirs in Covent Garden, Marylebone restaurant Carousel, and upscale wine club 67 Pall Mall, and Walgate predicts it won’t be long before big producers get in on the act. 

Browse our guide to the best natural wine bars in London

 
As originally featured in the July 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*232)

Designer wine glasses are ten a-penny: stemless ones in too-cool bars, bucket-shaped ones for deep reds, too-small-to-fit-your-nose-in ones for light whites. For any novice, (and for many of us more experienced sippers) pairing wine to glass shape has become an unnavigable exercise. A reductive new collection from celebrated product designer Richard Brendon and wine critic Jancis Robinson makes pairing wine to its ideal glass shape as simple as possible, with a minimalist mantra any sensible souse could get behind: one size fits all.

‘Richard was probably rather shocked when I said firmly that I wanted to design just one perfect wine glass, but he took it on the chin, I'm delighted to say,’ Robinson explains. ‘As someone who wants to make enjoying wine as straightforward and pleasurable as possible, I was insistent on a single glass shape and size.’

The aptly named ‘1 Collection’ is a testament to Robinson’s career, which has been devoted to demystifying the heady and vastly complex wine world. In 1984, she was the first person outside of the trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams, and, for her troubles, she was awarded an OBE for services to wine in 2003. Decanter Magazine argues that she’s the best in the business.

There’s simply no room for countless different types of wine glass in our space-starved, clutter-filled lives, Robinson argues. Nor is there any point. ‘On my travels around the world of wine, in recent years it has become really noticeable that producers of champagne and other sparkling wines, as well as those making sherry, port and other fortified wines, want their precious liquids to be appreciated in the same way as table wines,’ she explains. So designing one, definitive option ‘just seems so obvious and sensible.’

Brendon was the man for the job. The London-based designer started working in glass blowing in Bohemia in 2015, and, inspired by the skill and precision of the craft, now designs highly regarded collections of glassware that challenge the region’s traditional aesthetic, through contemporary shapes and future-proofed functionality.

As such, the mouth-blown ‘1 Glass’, though gossamer-thin, is dishwasher safe, thanks to its sturdier-than-average stem. The generous tulip bowl is also impeccably bright, and lead-free for an untainted tasting experience. ‘Our glass producer initially struggled to get the weight of the glass as light as we required because they had never produced a collection this fine before,’ Brendon explains. ‘That our glassblowers persevered, and very quickly learned how to make the pieces perfectly, is a real testament to their phenomenal skill and dedication to the final vision we all shared.’

In keeping with the ‘one glass fits all’ theme, there is no distinction between wine colour throughout the collection, which also boasts a water glass and two carafes. ‘I love white wine as much as red, and have never understood why white wine glasses are routinely smaller,’ Robinson adds. ‘White wines can be just as complex, and just as deserving of what you might call aroma enhancement as reds.’ Instead, the carafes are split by vintage: younger wines are intended for the balloon-bottomed carafe – large enough to fit a magnum – allowing more sprightly wines to mellow. The slimmer carafe is specifically designed for mature vintages, allowing sediment to siphon off, without exposing the hard-won wine to too much harmful oxygen.

Though the collection won’t have hardened glass collectors chucking out their variously sized stems, it is a refreshing and economical approach to wine that will undoubtedly appeal to those taking their first steps on the way of the grape. It will also attract us experienced tasters, tempted by the simplicity, functionality and clutter-free contemporary line of a modern Brendon classic. Bottoms up.

INFORMATION
Available exclusively at Harrods from 1 July. For more information, visit the Richard Brendon website

New York plots can often pose a serious challenge to architects. Squeezed and narrow, with strict zoning and massing requirements, it’s not always easy delivering a client’s brief – particularly when its a series of airy, contemporary residences set in a modern, tall building. But if you’re NYC-based architecture firm ODA – of 123 Melrose, 1040 Dean St and Bedford Hotel fame – you turn the conventional high rise on its head; welcome to 100 Norfolk.

This residential development, created between Delancey and Rivington Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan for Adam America Real Estate, is a tall building with a twist. The architects designed it as an inverted stepped volume, where the base is narrow, but the the outline widens as the height increases, becoming its most generous towards the top – providing plenty of light and space for the coveted top apartments.

When Eran Chen of ODA was called upon to propose a solution for the site, while researching local planning regulations and the surrounding area he uncovered an interesting fact. There were some ‘11,000 square feet of unused air space ripe for construction above the adjacent buildings’, he explains. By transfering the nearby structures’ air rights – which allowed the architects to work on 100 Norfolk’s finely chiseled form and extend cantilevered floors over the existing neighbouring buildings – the architects were able to include more units exactly where the building gets the best light and optimal views, in a gesture towards a more balanced distribution of space and sunlight within the scheme.

100 Norfolk is built in glass and steel, with curtain walls wrapping around the main frame, so as to create bright interiors and allow for far-reaching views for the residents. The scheme comprises 38 homes, which range from studios to three-bedroom apartments. The interiors are clean and minimalist, leaving space for the striking vistas to take centre stage. Meanwhile living spaces are matched by a series of amenities, such as a gym, yoga room, extra storage and two terraces for the residents – one of which sits on the building’s roof, rather fittingly for this development which is all about making the most of what you’ve got.§

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of ODA

Venice isn’t just about architecture right now. Returning for the second time is ‘Design.VE: design walks through Venice’, which runs in parallel with the first month of the international architecture biennale. Organised by Venice Art Factory in collaboration with Generali Italia, this design festival consists of 18 individual exhibitions staged by brands, designers, museums and academic insitutions that take place in palazzos, churches, cultural centres and smaller venues around the lagoon city from Castello to Cannaregio.

In addition to this initiative, there are other satellite design shows running in tandem with the architecture biennale. Design may not be the main attraction, but from Memphis surveys to experimental fashion artefacts there’s plenty going on to whet the appetites of design lovers. Here are our highlights.

Kosmogonos-Come into a New State of Being, a project by WonderGlass in association with Zuecca Projects

It’s a rare treat to see inside the 16th-century Chiesa dell’Ospedaletto and the Renaissance-style setting proves a lavish, historical counterpoint to the luminous WonderGlass pieces on display. On show here are ‘Horah’. Arranged around the altar, these kinetic lighting pieces by Raw-Edges are inspired by the traditional Israeli dance and were launched during April’s Salone del Mobile.

Meanwhile, another London-based practice, studiopluz, exhibits two works: ‘Echo’ a sound and light sculpture; and at the centre of the space, ‘Urban Reflection’, which consists of multicoloured glass blocks arranged like a maze on a reflective surface, calling to mind a metropolis on water. Until 23 June, 11am-7pm every day, closed Mondays. Santa Maria dei Derelitti/Chiesa dell’Ospedaletto, Castello, Barbaria delle Tole 6691

Why-What-Who/10 Years of Fashion Artefacts

This fascinating survey is a review of work by 21 alumni and three tutors spanning a decade of the pioneering and provocative incubator that is the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Artefact MA course led by Dai Rees. The exhibition is curated to showcase four areas of research and studio methodologies the post-graduate students have engaged with over the past decade: heritage and craftsmanship, performative body and prosthetics, product and manufacture and artefact as political voice.

For anyone who lived through the 1990s there is something here wonderfully reminiscent of the disruptive performative spirit of the late Leigh Bowery. Although the body of work is diverse – from Mirja Pitkäärt’s smooth-as-pebbles leather accessories to Sarah Williams’s surreal leather luggage and Una Burke’s extraordinary sculptural kneeling figure – every piece is sublimely crafted. It’s no wonder many of the students were immediately snapped up post-course by luxury fashion houses such as LVMH. Go to discover the fashion provocateurs of the future. Until 17 June. Castello, Fondamenta della Tana 2010, 2011, 2109

Cedit Ceramiche d’Italia presents ‘Ambienti’

Italian heritage ceramic brand CEDIT exhibits five ceramic collections, from Formafantasma’s 2017 glossy ombre-effect Cromatica tiles to the more recent bold three-dimensional geometric Rilievi range in seven distinctive shades, by design duo Enrica Cavarzan & Marco Zavagno, aka Zaven.

Also exhibited are the angular Lapis vases, designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968 and reissued by CEDIT in three sizes to commemorate the centenary of his birth. Until 8 July, open daily 10am-6pm. Campo Santo Stefano, San Marco 2828/A; ceditceramiche.it

Alcantara presents ‘Multiforms: declinations between space and time’

The Italian manufacturer Alcantara engages with the concept of ‘Freespace’, the theme set for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, for this exhibition, which investigates the connections between past and future, commissioning and experiencing. Curated by Davide Quadrio the exhibition comprises of three ‘Alcantara specific’ installations created in dialogue between th manufacturer and three designers: Krijn de Koning, Nanda Vigo and German design collective Zeitguised, all of which play with space and time while also distorting dimensional boundaries.

Set in Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù, visitors first encounter Krijn de Koning’ deconstructed blue boxlike room. Next is Nanda Vigo, who looks back to the past and forward to an imagined future in her piece Arch/arcology, which consists of a series of sculptural installations based on original architectural drawings made by the architect and artist Paolo Soleri in the 1960s (below).

Finally, Zeitguised presents two geometrically complex videos based on a series of algorithms, while also providing viewers the comfort of two seats made of Alcantara from which to watch them. All pieces exist in paradoxical space, feeding viewers both a sense of familiarity and alienation. Open 10am-6pm Tues-Sun until 27 June. Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù, Venice; alcantara.com

WallpaperSTORE* pop-up

Far be it for us to blow our own trumpet, but on the Design.VE trail is the WallpaperStore*, which continues its series of global pop-ups with this compact outpost created in collaboration with design studio Zanellato/Bortotto, formed by ECAL alumni Giorgia Zanellato and Daniele Bortotto.

The interior is an ‘homage to Venice and its recurring apocalyptic dilemma of acqua alta’, with a backdrop of oxidised metalwork created by De Castelli. On show are vessels and tableware by designers including Lara Bohinc, Michael Anastassiades, Salvatori and Minimalux. Open 10am-7pm daily. Latteria Moderna Berti, Viale Garibaldi, Castello 1791.

Memphis-Plastic Field

Although this is not part of Design.VE, it’s unmissable for anyone with an interest in 20th-century design, showcasing as it does an extensive collection of Memphis design. Whether you love it or hate it, the bold geometrics of Memphis clash brilliantly in this Venetian palazzo.

Co-curated by Adrian Berengo, a champion of Murano glassworks, and his long-time collaborator gallerist Jean Blanchaert, there are some extraordinary and rare pieces from the Eighties here, from communal seating Tawaraya Ring designed by Masanori Umeda in 1981 to the glamorous Plaza Vanity by Michael Graves and a confection of delicate glass vessels by Marco Zanuso, Michele de Lucchi and the movement’s founder Ettore Sottsass. Don‘t miss the informative film documenting the movement, or Ai WeiWei’s Gilded Cage, a giant al fresco installation in the courtyard. Until 25 November, open 10am-6pm, Fondazione Berengo, Palazzo Franchetti, San Marco 2847; fondazioneberengo.org

A Furnace in Marseille. Cirva

There are many reasons to visit San Giorgio Maggiore Island – such as Palladio’s basilica and the fact that it’s a woodland idyll away from the main throng – but this year you should also head over there for the Vatican Chapels, Pae White’s sinuous glass-brick wall Qwalala and also an excellent exhibition currently at Le Stanze del Vetro.

‘Furnace in Marseille. Cirva’, co-curated by Isabelle Reiher and Chiara Bertola, encompasses a broad range of glassworks created by 17 different artists who have been residents of the Cirva (which stands for, Centre international de recherche sur le verre et les artes plastiques) workshop in Marseille. The infinite possibilities of glass are richly explored here from Larry Bell’s 1970 work ‘First & Last’, an extraordinary large-scale exercise in minimalism, which is artfully preceded by Pierre Charpin’s expressive early-Noughties series of ‘Torno Subito’ vases. Until 29 July, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore; lestanzedelvetro.org

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Silverstein Properties are celebrating the completion of 3 World Trade Center, the second tallest building in the World Trade Center site and the very first built work by the architects in New York City.

The tower, spanning 80 floors and some 1,000 ft, sits at 175 Greenwich Street, right at the heart of the Financial District in downtown Manhattan. Combining retail – on the lower five storeys – and office space, the commercial building is the third one to complete on site by the same developers.

Built in glass and steel, the tower features state-of-the-art design, bearing the signature light and elegant, yet confident and experienced touch of RSHP. Visible exterior bracing not only adds to a balanced, well articulated facade and volume composition, but it also allows for column-free interiors and flexible spaces inside, to suit a variety of businesses. The retail element sits at the base of the tower’s podium, where the dramatic, triple-height entrance lobby is also located.

Green design was a key priority for the team. The building has achieved high energy ratings, and includes strategies that limit spending associated to artificial lighting. This won them a ‘Gold’ Certificate for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the US Green Buildings Council. Additionally, there is a 5,500 sq ft landscaped garden terrace on the 17th floor and two smaller garden spaces on the 60th and 76th floor.

‘It has been a great privilege to design one of the new buildings on this key site in New York’, says Pritzker Prize winner and RSHP founding partner Richard Rogers. ‘We are particularly delighted that we have been working in the heart of this vibrant city. This was a complex and challenging project but one which has helped to contribute to the revitalisation of New York City and one which will help to inspire a new hope for the city’s future.’ 

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

The work of Vienna-based designers Nadja Zerunian and Peter Weisz is akin to alchemy. Using materials such as copper, marble and glass, the pair create unusual, sophisticated pieces, often combining them with quirky vintage objects found at flea markets and antique shops around the world.

The resulting limited-edition collections are as unexpected as they are seductive. Each piece is covetable in its own right, but it’s the ingenious way they are put together that really draws the eye. ‘We believe we can push the conversation about craft a lot further by realising small collections that tell stories, and by drawing people into our world of little wonders,’ explains Zerunian. ‘By combining works made by artisans with new and vintage design, you elevate the craft items and show how they can hold their own among a range of exquisite objects.’ It’s all about ‘taking the sentimentality out of craft’, adds Weisz, ‘and making it relevant for today.’

Zerunian and Weisz have different but complementary backgrounds. Zerunian studied painting, and later product design with Ron Arad and Carl Auböck, and has been a designer at Calvin Klein and creative director for Georg Jensen and Swatch, while Weisz is a master tailor who had his own atelier and eponymous label for 25 years, and has also worked as a fashion director for magazines and brands such as Swarovski. They both ‘collect, hoard and hunt’ objects, which often become the starting points for a new collection.

‘Nadja and I engage in our designs in a very playful way,’ says Weisz. ‘When we work, it’s almost like entering a fantasy realm.’ Humour is a constant, as is a conversational game of ping-pong that ends up pushing each project further. In their four years of collaboration, this eclectic approach has led to five collections that highlight different craft skills and embody different narratives. These include Nos Trucs en Plumes, inspired by French ballet dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, and Ways to Disappear, a range of objects that seem to vanish when combined with trays finished in the same colours.

The latest collection, launched this spring, is called Perfect Stills. A series of tableware made out of glass, ceramic, metal, wood and stone by craftspeople in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Italy, it draws its inspiration from archetypal elements; the pair refer to the pieces as meditative totems. Functional yet enigmatic, they appear almost to dance or float thanks to curved bases. As with many of the duo’s works, the individual elements can be fitted together to compose a single object or separated out into different pieces to create a ‘product landscape’.

‘Each piece is a generic or archaic shape, but once you put them together, it becomes a Zerunianandweisz piece,’ says Zerunian. ‘The idea was to show how utilitarian objects can become highly decorative,’ adds Weisz.

Zerunian and Weisz kicked off their design partnership in 2014 with a collaboration with Roma craftspeople in Romania. Initially, Zerunian was taken on as a pro bono advisor by the Austria-based Erste Foundation to help marginalised Roma craft communities reinterpret their products for a global, design-savvy audience. She soon asked Weisz, a friend of a friend, to come on board to help create a fashion collection with Roma seamstresses. Their collaborators in Romania were the dynamic Bucharest-based social enterprise Meşteshukar ButiQ (MBQ).

MBQ runs a boutique in Bucharest (and is due to open another in Vienna late this year) that sells pieces made by 18 Roma artisans, whose skills range from basket weaving to woodturning. The artisans make traditional objects with a design edge, as well as more complicated items in collaboration with the likes of Zerunianandweisz and up-and-coming Romanian designer Radu Abraham, with whom they have worked on a collection of vases and trays, due to be launched during Romanian Design Week in late May.

Thanks to the support of the foundation and the team at MBQ, Zerunian and Weisz have been able to offer the artisans a level of commitment that many others haven’t. ‘The Roma are wary of people arriving with a great idea and then never coming back again,’ says Zerunian. So the fact that the pair did come back, almost every month, for close to four years, meant they were able to build up trust. They made minor but key suggestions, such as making the legs of traditional stools less chunky, and exploring new basket shapes. The fact that MBQ paid the craftspeople better than other wholesalers had positive effects too – the artisans had more time to interact with the pieces and were slowly able to invest in new workshops and tools. ‘More respect towards them led to more respect towards the product,’ says Zerunian.

The artisan who has had the most impact on Zerunian and Weisz is Victor Clopotar, a talented coppersmith from the Caldarari community in Brateiu, Transylvania. It was their admiration for his abilities with copper, silver and brass that led to their first range as a duo, a series of sculptural tabletop items called ‘7,000 blows’ in reference to the amount of times a sheet of metal has to be hammered to achieve the shapes they were after. ‘To do something elliptical or asymmetrical is a real craft challenge,’ says Zerunian. ‘Victor is one of the few people in the world able to do this.’

For the designers, working with the Roma or other marginalised communities in Algeria and Lebanon is not about a worthier-than-thou mission (they are ‘accidental activists’, says Zerunian). The pair, above all, want to shed new light on fast disappearing traditional crafts. These objects, and the vintage pieces they find, can be functional, frivolous or purely symbolic, but they all share something in common. ‘They invite you to take your time with them, and not only use them but also view them in a different way,’ says Weisz. The pieces might not be large in size but they are, nevertheless, unexpectedly powerful. §

As originally featured in the June 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*231)

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Zerunianandweisz website

One minute: that’s how long it takes to create a monster. ‘I don’t recall ever being fearful of monsters as a child, so my design is childishly simple: I started with a doodle,’ says Dutch designer Maarten Baas, one of 16 creatives asked to think monstrous by the Czech glass manufacturer Lasvit. Transforming those dark imaginings into Bohemian glass, however, has taken almost two years. The project is finally unveiled at Salone del Mobile in Milan’s Teatro Gerolamo, a neoclassical puppet theatre, where it has been awarded the prestigious Milano Design Award for best installation, interpreting a contemporary design and a future conceptual vision.

Conceived by creative design strategist Stephan Hamel and Lasvit founder Leon Jakimič, the project has delivered a diverse family of monsters, from a mirror encrusted with googly eyes by the Paris-based couturier Maurizio Galante to a menacing stained-glass portrait by octogenarian artist Vladimír Kopecký. Eight of the pieces will be limited editions, Kopecký’s will be a one-off, while others will be more widely available. All form the Lasvit Monster collection, which will be updated each year with contributions from new artists.

‘Every culture and individual perceives the concept of “monster” differently,’ says Jakimič. ‘They frighten us, but also open up our minds, reminding us of our own limitations and inner fears. The question of what a monster really is becomes real through these artworks.’

The pieces, made in four of Lasvit’s workshops in the Czech Republic, employed both traditional and groundbreaking techniques including hand-blown, cast, fused and cut glass. Some pieces were even made using uranium, which adds a unique gleaming green. ‘It’s not radioactive,’ Jakimič laughs, ‘but we asked someone from the atomic agency to literally add one drop to the molten glass to create the effect.’

Daniel Libeskind’s offering called for a complex process, adding glass chips into a mould, increasing its temperature by a few degrees every day over a few months before cooling it down at a similarly gradual pace. ‘As an architect, I always start to design with a drawing,’ says Libeskind. ‘But in this case, I sat down at a table with a bucket of clay and a kitchen knife. And I just began to sculpt.’ To translate the clay monsters into glass, ‘we used a super-sophisticated Bohemian technique invented during socialism’, says Jakimič. ‘It’s the first time we’ve used it for a product.’ It gives the pieces an unusual luminosity and a colour that changes depending on the light.

Glass artist Stanislav Müller also pushed the boundaries, exploring the properties of optical glass with his geometric monster. ‘Production must be perfect,’ he explains. ‘Each piece of glass is cut by hand from one block of optical glass to avoid unwanted refraction.’ The artist engraved and ground details onto the faces. ‘It looks simple, but was a challenge.’

Baas’ whimsical contribution draws inspiration from an imaginary discovery of fossils of small beasts, with sharp teeth but no stomachs, while Italian architect Fabio Novembre looked to Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man for ‘Toyboy’, slyly subverting it with body parts vaguely resembling sex toys.

As for Canadian design duo Yabu Pushelberg, they veered away from a literal interpretation to draw on Japanese folklore. Their designs nod to tsukumogami, household objects that are said to transform into spirits after a century of use. ‘They are sometimes described as vengeful, but also as simply mischievous. Either way, they are an ancient representation infused with the soul of a material culture,’ says Glenn Pushelberg of their three animal head-shaped vessels. ‘Maintaining a playfulness, but also a slightly sinister, mischievous undercurrent to each piece was the greatest challenge.’

The project is an important way of showing young, innovative designers the potential of working with glass artisans. But it proved equally enticing for the 96-year-old Czech glass artist René Roubíček, who shaped molten glass by hand at the furnace to create an organic form named ‘The Martian’. ‘The monster could only be like this; playful and merry, provoking solely by the surprising simplicity of its elements,’ he says.

Another venerable talent, Italian designer Alessandro Mendini, believes the time is right to think about monstrosities: ‘Designing monsters means being able to vanquish them.’ His designs are intended to appear kind and friendly. ‘I think all the objects I make are a bit like monsters: it is a kind of creature that arouses special fascination,’ he says. ‘But in my case, the monster is a good-luck charm.’ Equally amiable are the Campanas’ ‘Outer Space Monsters’, named Flix and Flex. ‘Our monsters are like aliens with a human shape inside. They are not ugly or terrifying. We see more horrible things in daily life,’ says Fernando Campana.

One of the most intriguing pieces in the collection, ‘Something Underneath’ by Japanese designer Oki Sato of Nendo, is almost invisible. It looks as if a leaf of paper or cloth were draped over a menacing shape, ‘playing with the idea of the unknown and the invisible’. Each piece called for a large single sheet of glass, its week-long cooling process meticulously controlled to reduce the risk of breakage. ‘It is such a simple idea, yet so sophisticated,’ Jakimič observes.

According to Lasvit’s art director, Maxim Velčovský, however, the true value of the exploration of monsters is that it offers a unique glimpse into the world of the designer. Velčovský’s own creation is a Lenin lookalike with a slightly larger left hand and shoe. Titled ‘Leftism’, it reflects his experience of growing up behind the Iron Curtain. ‘It’s a deformation that is not immediately obvious, but that you figure out later on,’ he explains. ‘We were influenced by the idea of building up the socialist camp, and although the idea may be good, the results can be monstrous. It really affected my life and so it has become my personal monster.’

As originally featured in the May 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*230)

INFORMATION 

‘Lasvit Monster Cabaret’ is on view at Teatro Gerolamo from 17 – 22 April during Salone Del Mobile. For more information, visit the Lasvit website

ADDRESS 

Teatro Gerolamo
8 Piazza Cesare Beccaria
20122
Milan

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Housed at the elegant, privately owned 1930s Villa Mozart in Milan’s historic centre is the third edition of Doppia Firma – a dialogue between design and artisanal excellence – the exhibition which partners 13 international designers with Italian master artisans to create an original piece.

On show across the ground floor halls of the villa, owned by the jeweller Giampiero Bodino who uses the building as his studio and rarely opens his doors to the public, the contemporary works spanning disciplines such as glassblowing, gilding, silversmithing, silkscreen printing, spinning, lacemaking, typesetting and ceramics show skilled excellence at its best.

The project’s aim, which was founded by the Geneva-based private organisation Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship (which promotes and preserves master craftsmanship) and the Cologni Foundation for the Metiers d’art, a Milanese, non-profit organisation, which assists cultural and educational initiatives, is also to forge new and unexpected relationships between contemporary thinkers and those who employ the finest traditional craft skills. Each design is displayed with a series of images and films, examining the creative process.

Highlights at this year’s event seen at the ivy-covered villa include a new cotton lace by the much-in-demand French architect and designer India Madhavi and master lacemaker Lucia Costantini, while the London-based multi-disciplinary practice Studio Swine has teamed with master goldsmith Giampaolo Babetto from Arqua Petrarco to create a series of brushed silver objets. Dutch industrial designer Kiki van Eijk has made a family of marble pieces overlaid with gold leaf in collaboration with Marino Menegazzo, the Venetian master gilder. The American-born, Swiss-based Ini Archibong who is also showing his first collection of furniture for British design brand Sé, has worked with Elisabetta Bocchese to present a knitted textile.

Each piece will be marked with the signatures of both creators – Doppia Firma translates as Double Signature – to represent the conversation and collaboration.

INFORMATION

‘Doppia Firma’ is on view from 17-22 April at Salone del Mobile. For more information, visit the Doppia Firma website

ADDRESS

Villa Mozart
Maison Giampiero Bodino
Via Mozart 9
Milan

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

On a wet March day in a small industrial town, under an hour north-west of Venice, Ronan Bouroullec is in the main hall of a vast glass-casting factory belonging to London-based brand WonderGlass. Here, basking in the glow of the furnaces, he is standing atop a platform to get a bird’s-eye view of the factory floor below, where a team of craftsmen wrestle with vats of molten glass, expertly working it into simple but elegant shapes. The sculptural designs are new pieces by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for WonderGlass, set to be unveiled during Milan’s Salone del Mobile.

Although it is the Paris-based brothers’ first collaboration with the brand, it’s not their first with its co-founder, Maurizio Mussati, who recently completed an eight-year tenure at furniture brand Established & Sons. ‘For me, Ronan and Erwan are the best in the business,’ says Mussati. ‘They are very precise. Ronan is also very direct. If he doesn’t like something, he will tell you. He doesn’t compromise.’

Mussati founded WonderGlass with his son and business partner Christian Mussati in 2013, launching an impressive debut collection of lights designed by industry heavyweights Nendo, Jaime Hayon, Nao Tamura and Zaha Hadid.

While the company produces glass collections under its own name – and also runs WonderLab, a research department focusing on innovation, bespoke solutions and the blending of glass with other materials – the Mussatis estimate that more than 50 per cent of their business lies in creating bespoke works in glass for other brands and architects, most of the time anonymously. Chanel’s glass-brick storefront in Amsterdam, designed by MVRDV, was produced at the WonderGlass factory, while architect Richard Meier called upon its expertise to produce some of his lighting collection last year. ‘The industry knows that we are the best in Europe for cast-glass production,’ says Maurizio, who divides his time between Venice and London. ‘The team is fantastic; they’ve worked together for at least 15 years and they are like a machine, each one has his own role.’

Ronan Bouroullec (centre) is flanked by WonderGlass founders Maurizio Mussati (left) and Christian Mussati (right) at the brand’s factory near Venice.

Called Alcova, meaning ‘a place where the lovers meet’ in Italian, the Bouroullecs’ cast-glass collection comprises alcoves and cylindrical vessels that together form shrine-like displays in a delicate palette of grey, green, clear and amber. The alcoves, made in three different shapes, form a backdrop for the thick glass cylinders, which can be displayed individually or stacked to create tall vessels. ‘We’ve designed vases since the beginning,’ says Ronan, who set up design shop with Erwan in 1998. ‘But there has very often been a question of how to display or how to link a composition.’

The arched alcove shape is a familiar fixture in the Bouroullecs’ design vocabulary, appearing in creations such as their ‘Conque’ lights (2010) and ‘Honda’ vases (2001) for Galerie Kreo. The brothers are also experienced in working with glass, having collaborated with both Glas Italia and Iittala on blown-glass pieces. But the glass-casting technique that produces the new collection’s organic, imperfect finish is one that they only discovered in 2016.

‘The starting point for the collection was a project in which we created a table with a cast-glass top and blown-glass legs,’ recalls Ronan. ‘The cast table top was made using a particular technique that we wanted to take further.’ The discovery of the process led the Bouroullecs to WonderGlass, and the Alcova project has been in the works since July last year.

To create the alcoves, a group of eight craftsmen pour the molten glass onto a flat surface and roll it out like dough into an even thickness. The molten glass is then scooped up like a pizza and draped over the mould, where the craftsmen, equipped with masks and all manner of tools, surround the glowing orange form like a pack moving in on their prey, before speedily setting to work trimming its edges, ironing out its kinks and smoothing out the surface until a perfect alcove form is achieved.

The piece is left to cool for a minute, then prised away from the mould before being lifted into an annealing oven (or lehr), where the temperature is carefully controlled to avoid cracking or shattering the glass as it cools. ‘The cooling process can take a few hours or longer depending on the thickness and size of the glass,’ explains Christian as he watches the craftsmen carefully transferring the pieces into the lehr. ‘There’s a very precise formula.’

Ronan Bouroullec examines an alcove. Its thick glass shows off the marks of the production process.

Meanwhile, the creation of the simple-looking cylinders, he says, has been much more challenging. In this case, the glass is poured into a cylindrical mould in a slow spiral motion. Removing the glass from the mould is particularly challenging as it’s prone to cracking if it cools too quickly. If all goes well, the result is thick, glass sculptures that appear like blocks of ice, proudly displaying fold lines and imperfections created by the making process.

‘It is not a decorative effect; it’s the result of the piece’s manufacture, because with all of this imperfection, you understand a bit about how it has been made,’ says Ronan, examining the coiled layers of glass in one of the cylindrical vessels.

‘What is interesting here is to find the parameter of imperfection – the point where imperfection is interesting and where it stops,’ he continues. ‘I am more and more interested in this question of sensuality and vibrations inside a piece. These pieces are full of life because they are not made by a robot or a machine.’

For the Mussatis, the Alcova collection, which they describe as ‘a major investment’, is a chance to demonstrate that their factory is capable of producing much more than just lighting. ‘We understand that, very often, WonderGlass is perceived as a lighting company, and that is not all that we are,’ explains Maurizio. ‘We want to make clear that we are a glass company and we are ready to say yes to everything.’

As originally featured in the May 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*230)

INFORMATION

The Alcova collection by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec is at WonderGlass’ ‘Kosmos’ exhibition, on show from 17 – 22 April at Salone del Mobile. For more information, visit the Wonderglass website and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s website

ADDRESS

Istituto dei Ciechi
Vivaio 7
Milan

 VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

An inventive, transborder design collaboration sees the light of day at the 15th edition of Zona Maco art fair in Mexico City (7-11 February). Two of Mexico’s coveted designers, Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy, have teamed up with the LA-based Brian Thoreen to produce a collection that pushes the boundaries of glass design.

Fifteen pieces are on display this week at the booth of Nouvel Studio, a Mexico City-based glassblowing brand and workshop, who commissioned the project — and more pieces are in the making. Combining functionality and innovation, the design objects incorporate materials like steel, brass and stone, and place them into an unlikely dialogue with glass, where minimalism meets organic forms.

‘Our ambition was to confront these materials with glass, and highlight the beauty of Nouvel Studio’s craftsmanship,’ explains Godoy, a leader in sustainable design. When the brand approached the two Mexican designers (who are long-time collaborators), Esrawe quickly suggested to include Thoreen, who is now in the process of relocating his design studio to Mexico City. ‘There’s freedom that comes from affordable space, and a culture of pushing creative boundaries,’ explains the designer of his new adopted home.

The untitled collection is composed of five different strands, each with a distinctive approach to glass work and materiality. At Zona Maco, the series ‘Precarious’ is the most represented, and consists of glass pieces formed around steel and brass plates, co-existing in a delicate calibration. ‘The contrast is quite severe,’ affirms Thoreen, whose previous solo collection ‘Unsettled’ debuted at Patrick Parrish in New York last year. ‘The glass is transparent, while the plates are rougher and less refined,’ he continues.

Meanwhile, the series ‘Bedrock’ and ‘The Upside Down’ introduce the use of locally-sourced stone. The first consists of light, coral pink rectilinear volumes, gracefully proportioned between an open glass container and the stone-based foundation it delicately rests on. And the second combines a rough, chiseled stone pyramid with a glass cylinder, which, depending on its configuration, can be used as a side table or a vase.

‘We left many in-progress concepts and pieces for future collections,’ explains Esrawe of the ongoing collaboration. In the midst of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation, this feels like a timely reminder that innovation across borders continue to advance the creative fields in exciting and, often, unexpected ways.

INFORMATION

Zona Maco is on view until 11 February. For more information, visit the Zona Maco website, the Esrawe website, the Emiliano Godoy website, the Brian Thoreen website and the Nouvel Studio website

ADDRESS

Centro Citibanamex
Lomas de Sotelo
Hipódromo de las Américas
11200 Miguel Hidalgo
CDMX 
Mexico

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The latest stage in the on-going $225 million rejuvenation of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre by Diamond Schmitt Architects employs light as an architectural element. Inspired by traditional Japanese lanterns as well as the use of light and video in monuments like the Arc de Triomphe and even Yad Vashem, the Kipnes Lantern (named for its generous patrons) is a three storey, hexagonal glass tower, positioned above the new Elgin Street entrance, featuring the largest transparent LED screen in North America.

Originally, the brutalist 1969 Fred Lebensold-designed structure was conceived in concrete, with a rigourous geometry as a series of stunted towers that reference the surrounding rugged terrain of craggy escarpments and Canadian Shield. In keeping with the architects' concept of opening up the building, the lantern will act as a device for illumination, transparency and community engagement. Acting as a ‘fifth stage’ for the venerable arts centre (designated as a national historic site in 2006), the lantern is a literal and figurative beacon, opening up the national cultural symbol to new possibilities.

While the old NAC suffered from a bunker-like insularity, effectively turning its back on the city, the new lantern element will continue the process of connection with nearby Confederation Square, the Rideau Canal and the Parliament Buildings. ‘The unique see-through technology of the screen complements the transparency established in the new public wings that enwrap the NAC and provide connection with downtown Ottawa and outstanding views of nearby landmarks,’ says Donald Schmitt, principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects. In addition to the transparent digital screens on four sides of the Lantern, Vancouver’s ClearLED has also designed smaller fin screens along the Elgin Street façade.

NAC CEO Peter Herrndorf sees the Kipnes Lantern, which will display NAC productions as well as work being done across Canada, as ‘a beacon for the performing arts, showcasing the breadth and excellence of the music, theatre and dance being produced across Canada’. While striking a sober balance with nearby national monuments, the Lantern will also be a touchstone for light and video programs to complement national holidays.

Like an aesthetic Canadian superhero that doesn’t overwhelm its more traditional neighbours, the NAC Lantern reads like a national light box – both a screen for and a reflection of the best of Canadian culture.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the DSAI website

There’s a time and place for white china and crystal glassware – but here at Wallpaper*, we tend to skew bolder. As we settle into long, sprawling evenings spent indoors, now is the moment to embrace tablescapes and home bars bursting with colour, texture and creativity.

One way to inject personality into your dining setup or cocktail hour is with colourful glassware. Jewel-toned and luminescent, from hand-blown masterpieces to beautifully affordable finds, statement glassware can brighten neutral spaces, unify colour accents, and bring a dash of glamour to any occasion.

Wallpaper's favourite colourful glassware to brighten your set-up

When New York-based architect Steven Holl started piecing together ideas for the newest Maggie’s cancer care centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, he knew that the structure was going to form a pivotal part of a much longer story. Adjacent to the 18th-century stone building by architect James Gibbs, the design of Maggie’s Centre Barts reveals a softened, translucent exterior in the day in contrast with its lantern like state at night; an intentional feature that Holl says distinguishes the care centre from the medieval structures that surround it. 

Inspired by the musical notation in existence at the time the hospital was founded in 1123, the three-storey vertical design mimics the stretch and fluidity of the musical staff against five horizontal lines. The nonlinear elements of shape-notes, represented by coloured glass, connect the new structure to the history on which it stands. Selected for his ability to manipulate the use of light, Holl wants the Maggie’s Centre Barts to create a dialogue for future generations as he believes how we design today has a place amongst historical work.

Following the conceptual framework of a ‘vessel within a vessel within a vessel’, Holl constructed the enclosure using glass, concrete and bamboo. Opposed to the dominance of shiny glass buildings, Holl created a matte exterior using Okalux edged glass. By cutting a single pane into two, Holl invented a 21st-century illusion of original stained glass by positioning a coloured film between the Okalux panels.

Straw-like fibres imitating the qualities of polar bear hair were slotted between the singular pane cut in two, creating a textured opaqueness from the outside. With a gently sloped concrete staircase spiralling the interior perimeter of the building, the bamboo panelling is highlighted throughout the interior. From the inside the reflection of the steel lined exterior parallels the rhythmic rotation of the interior, utilising the textured opaqueness of the glass to soften the cement. By allowing only the direct sunlight and coined shadows from the Gibbs building to enter the building, there is a sense of seclusion and mindfulness within. 

With limited vision of the hospital, the Maggie’s Centre Barts opens those living with cancer to the west facing rooftop garden designed by Darren Hawkes, an aspect that puts into proximity only trees and vacant sky. Insularly structured, the protection and autonomy that the building strives to infiltrate in those living with cancer illustrates why architects like Holl continue to push the boundaries of what design can achieve.

INFORMATION

For more information visit Stephen Holl Architects' website

Mexican architect José Juan Rivera Río is a modernist at heart. Working with raw concrete, large expanses of glass, open plans and flat roofs, the DF-based architect is a master in creating spectacular, linear homes that produce the best cases of house envy. His latest offering, Casa Ramos, is a case in point.

Rivera Río sites the mid-1940s Case Study Houses programme – the Arts & Architecture magazine’s iconic and, at the time, experimental residential design series – as a main source of inspiration for this villa in Mexico City’s Miguel Hidalgo neighbourhood. 

Sat within a triangular plot, the house defines its city block through its prominent position. Navigating an awkwardly shaped, angular site when trying to place a more sober, rectangular design could be tricky for some, but not for this architect’s expert hand. Positioning one side of the house parallel to the plot, not only ensures the building feels comfortably nestled within its surroundings, but also makes the most of the favourable south orientation and the green views beyond, which are now visible from the house’s common areas. 

Spanning three levels, Casa Ramos features a garage basement that leads up to the leafy garden and main entrance. A garden-facing ground floor hosts the house’s living room, dining and kitchen area, and TV room. The top level includes the bedrooms and bathrooms. An upstairs terrace offers a connection to the outdoors for the more private areas of the house.

The light, glass-enclosed volumes give an impression of lightness to the whole, which appears to float above the verdant garden. At the same time, inside, stone, marble and dark woods create a warm, more homely atmosphere, and a luxurious feel that underlines the skill in which the architect made the most of the project’s relatively modest budget.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the JJRR Arquitectura website

In this age of intense stimulation overload, it’s encouraging to see a museum heading in the opposite direction. Thomas Phifer and Partners’ addition to the Glenstone Museum, set to open late next year in Potomac, MD, just under 15 miles from Washington DC, is as much about meditation and serenity as it is about art and culture.

The project increases the complex’s exhibition space from 9,000 to 59,000 sq ft, and adds about 130 acres of pastoral, tree-filled landscape by Peter Walker and Partners. Glenstone’s initial facility was completed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates in 2006.

After parking their cars, visitors approach the addition, a cluster of structures known as The Pavilions, via a ten-minute walk across a rolling, wildflower-filled meadow, up a slight ridge. Phifer calls this promenade ‘a quieting experience’. He notes, ‘Everything starts to slow down. You feel the topography as you make your way forward.’

You then reach the new complex, a dozen cast concrete rooms of varying configurations, partially embedded in the earth, interconnected by a glass clad passage wrapping around a central water court. Some of these still, timeless-feeling pavilions— lit gently from above via clerestories and skylights— will be dedicated to single artists, others to rotating exhibitions. But all will allow you to quietly commune with the work, secluded from the city, the immediate vicinity, and even, for a moment, the other sections of the museum. The final pavilion contains a viewing area to take in the expanded pasture land, which includes more than 6,000 new trees and over 40 species of plants.

The museum’s collection centres on an elite selection of post-World War II paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and multimedia works from over 200 artists, including John Baldessari, Jasper Johns, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Ellsworth Kelly, Louise Bourgeois, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, and many more. Its founders, Mitchell and Emily Wei Rales, visited 50 museums worldwide to learn lessons from each. 

‘We wanted to understand what great was,’ says Mitchell Rales, who sought to distance his museum from the crowds, hype and noise that have infiltrated so many contemporary cultural experiences. ‘I think people want more calm in their lives,’ adds Phifer, his soothing voice belying this contemplative approach.

The addition also includes a new arrival hall, offices, two cafes, a centre that highlights Glenstone’s sustainability efforts, and monumental public art from the likes of Jeff Koons and Tony Smith. Admission to the museum will remain free.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Thomas Phifer and Partners website

David Gill Gallery opens the doors to an exhibition of contemporary vases and vessels designed by some of the most exciting glass and ceramics artists working today. Some 50 pieces by both established and younger artists fill the showroom – most have been specially commissioned and made within the past six months.

From Domitilla Harding’s translucent glass vessels that appear like deep sea creatures, to Cody Hoyt’s intricate geometric vases made from inlaid pieces of hand-colored clay, the showcase offers a diverse snapshot of current contemporary decorative arts. ‘I have always been obsessed with vases,’ says the show’s curator, journalist Gianluca Longo, ‘especially decorative vases because they can be highly decorative as well as functional. They are like sculptures, but are more versatile in that they can transform tremendously depending on the flowers you choose.’

The featured artists, who draw upon an array of influences, materials and styles from around the world, include Kate Malone, Beth Katleman, Tommaso Corvi-Mora, Tancredi di Carcaci, Tino Seubert, Felicity Aylieff, Cody Hoyt, Lena Peters and Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda.

With a focus on ‘craftsmanship and the handmade’, Longo, who writes for both W and Cabana, says the curation process was instinctive: ‘The vases I have chosen have a strong decorative element, and the selection came very naturally to me. I am happy that every single artist has a different style.’

Specially commissioned pieces include Kate Malone’s ‘Monumental Fennel’, Tino Seubert’s terrazzo ‘Heptagon Rosa Perlino’, and ‘Owl’ by Lena Peter – an artist whom Longo discovered at Central Saint Martins’ final degree show. ‘I have known most of the artists for some time, followed their works very closely, and always liked them,’ comments Longo.

Emerging names such as Tancredi di Carcaci, who is still a young student in Edinburgh, demonstrates his take on southern European baroque, while Beth Katleman’s vase with cherubs adds what Longo calls ‘a cheeky moment’ to the show – if you look at it carefully. ‘Beth will be a surprise,’ he says. ‘She is New York based and not as well known here in the UK.’

He continues: ‘I think there's a big attention to decorative arts at the moment, and I hope this exhibition with reflect it through the vases and the vessels.’ The new showcase follows on from Longo’s ‘Young Bright Things’ exhibition last year, that saw the style editor select the next big names across fashion, art and design.

‘We absolutely cannot wait to see what Gianluca Longo has in store for this new exhibition,’ said Francis Sultana, CEO of David Gill Gallery, prior to the opening. ‘His fascination with vases, especially glass and Venetian majolica vases, will result in a vibrant showcase of some of the most talented contemporary artists bringing back to life this ancient art form.’

INFORMATION
‘Vases and Vessels’ is on view until 5 December. For more information, visit the David Gill Gallery website

ADDRESS

David Gill Gallery
2-4 King Street
London SW1Y 6QP

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

‘This is only ever the third licensed design I’ve ever produced,’ says Peter Marino, the New York architect best known for luxury boutiques and interiors, as he fishes around for something in his leather fanny pack. He pulls out his prior limited-edition design, a pen from a collection he designed for the Swiss brand Caran-d’Ache in April. It’s a weighty little scepter, topped with a skull and adorned in silver-coated eyelets and black leather – which is of course synonymous with Marino’s person at this point. He’s never not wearing it from head to toe.

But today, Marino is at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design to celebrate the launch of ‘Black Belt’, his new vase collection with historic Italian glass company Venini. It does not involve leather. ‘Well, I tried as hard as I could!’ he says, in good jest. ‘I got the black to look as much as a leather strap as I could.’

The gently rounded vessels, tinted in pale shades of green and pink, are accented with luscious, painterly bands of black and filled with peonies. ‘I have a different philosophy from many architects,’ says Marino. ‘It’s not just about art; I like art that’s used, so I made vases for flowers because I’m a flower freak.’

Marino’s collection is the latest in Venini’s longstanding work with legendary architects. Past collaborators have included Ettore Sottsass, Gae Aulenti and Gio Ponti; last month, the artistic glass company also launched a collection by Tadao Ando, titled ‘Cosmos’. It’s comprised of three rectilinear vessels that interlock to form a spherical void – the Japanese master’s meditation on nothingness.

Seen in tandem with ‘Black Belt’ (both collections are on view at Manhattan’s Les Ateliers Courbet this month), it’s a visual lesson in the diverse art of glassmaking: Ando’s precise geometries could not contrast more heavily to Marino’s bulbous, organic forms. ‘That’s the beauty of working with great architects – they are so different from one another, and from the craftsmanship point of view, it’s always a technical challenge,’ says Silvia Damiani, of the Damiani family of legacy jewellers, who acquired Venini last year. Damiani believes the two worlds are natural bedfellows.

‘I think a jewel is something that can define your elegance and the way you dress,’ she muses. ‘Jewellery is near to you because it is on your body and you wear it; and Venini works are near to you because they are in your house, and the places where you feel at home.’

INFORMATION

Black Belt and Ando Cosmos vase collections are on view until 30 November. For more information, visit the Venini website, and the Peter Marino Architect website

ADDRESS

Les Ateliers Courbet
134 10th Ave
New York
NY 10011

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The Viennese crystal and chandelier manufacturer Lobmeyr knows a thing or two about fine craftsmanship. Founded in 1823, it was a pioneer of Austrian and Bohemian crystal production, supplying the Imperial Court and the world with fine tableware and chandeliers, perhaps the most famous of which adorn the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The secret to the firm’s longevity – the family business, run by Leonid, Andreas and Johannes Rath, is currently in its sixth generation – lies in the combination of its great craftspeople and a thirst for innovation. They were the first to make chandeliers using Edison’s electric light bulbs in 1883, worked with the likes of Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann in the early 20th century, and designers such as Formafantasma, Michael Anastassiades, Philippe Malouin and Helmut Lang in the 21st.

So when Wallpaper* paired Lobmeyr with one of the world’s most acclaimed young product designers, Sebastian Herkner, for this year’s Handmade, he arrived at the workshops with something like reverence: ‘Lobmeyr specialises in very precise glass objects,’ says Herkner. ‘Entering their workshops for the first time, observing the craftsmen and discussing our idea and design approach with them had a great impact on me.’ This comes from a designer who has already worked with a broad range of leading manufacturers, including ClassiCon, Pulpo, Moroso and Rosenthal, since founding his own studio in Germany in 2006.

Reputations aside, designers and manufacturers only really develop respect for one another by working together. ‘Projects such as Wallpaper* Handmade are a great opportunity to get to know a designer, to find out if they are compatible for future collaborations,’ says Leonid Rath. ‘I can, of course, just brief a designer because I know other examples of his or her work, but it is completely different when you have actually worked and solved problems together.’

It didn’t take long for Rath to appreciate Herkner’s particular skills when it came to design: ‘Sebastian works very effectively, intervening at exactly the right moments and paying great attention to detail.’ Herkner and Lobmeyr had three months to come up with a finished piece. ‘It was absolutely not much time!’ exclaims Rath, noting that, in his business, timelines of five years are normal. ‘But sometimes working under this kind of pressure can be a good thing.’

‘The project Taking Care of Wild Relatives began with the idea of creating a container for something very special and cherished,’ explains Herkner, ‘and what could be more precious than nature – the basis of our existence?’ Herkner recalled the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, a bank of crop-seed samples being stored in the Arctic permafrost for future generations. With further research, Herkner’s team realised how urgently climate change is threatening the survival of food crops. Most crops are delicate hybrids sensitive to drought and disease; cross-breeding them with their wilder ancestors creates new hybrids that are able to withstand infections and changing conditions. The most valuable commodities in the world might then be the wild original versions of our essential crops.

Herkner’s team got in touch with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations for advice, and they sent seeds from the wild relatives of five key crops threatened by climate change – wheat, peanuts, cowpeas, potatoes and oats. ‘I think it is important to highlight things which are super normal for us, but are also in danger of getting lost,’ says Herkner. ‘These five seeds are important for human beings in so many ways, from food to clothing and energy.’

He then designed a set of five handmade glass bell jars to contain these precious seeds. The bottom sections are chunkier, with facetcut pedestals, while the tops are domed and made of much finer glass, with the Latin names of the seeds and illustrations of the plants engraved upon them, reminiscent of old apothecary containers. He then added delicate little silver-plated brass pedestals inside to hold the seeds themselves.

The contrast between the thinner lids and chunkier bases of the glass elements was a great challenge for Lobmeyr, says Rath: ‘A big problem was to stop the rounded top part from jamming onto the bottom section.’ Both were mouth-blown into wooden moulds, but the glass thickness was nevertheless hard to control: ‘The interior form of the upper part, which has to fit on the bottom, was especially difficult, and achievable only through years of experience on the part of the glassblower.’

Compounding the difficulty, the two glass sections had to be made in separate manufactories, located some 500km apart: one for the heavier bases in North Bohemia in the Czech Republic, and another that specialises in finer glasswork near Lake Balaton in Hungary. The coordination of craftsmanship and millimetre precision to make the components to fit exactly was quite extraordinary. ‘You would not believe how perfectly they fitted when put together. They slid over each other like a Japanese tea caddy. Even I was amazed!’ says Rath.

The magic of glass is that, although it is made from one of the most basic, common minerals on the planet, silicon dioxide, it can be transformed into something highly precious by skill alone. ‘This is the essence of it; what we are all about,’ explains Rath. ‘Our biggest challenge over the last 15 years has been to make things that have contemporary value; to discover what uses are valuable to people today, and the rituals of today. It is a really fascinating and beautiful task.’

As originally featured in the August 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*221)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Sebastian Herkner website, Lobmeyr website and FAO website

Arranged jewel-like across the Le Stanze del Vetro showspace on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Ettore Sottsass’ totemic glass sculptures tell the story of his life’s work. For the first exhibition dedicated entirely to the Italian designer’s work in glass and crystal, curator Luca Massimo Barbero has gathered more than 220 designs, dating between 1947 and 2007. 

The showcase, called ‘Ettore Sottsass: The Glass’, is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Italian architect, and is, as Barbero says, ‘dedicated to revealing a never before seen Sottsass’.

Sottsass was first introduced to glass after he moved to Milan in 1946. His first glass object – a lined spherical vase, which was probably displayed at the eighth Milan Triennale – is dated 1947. He continued to work with the medium throughout his artistic life, collaborating with some of the most important glassworks of the time, such as Vistosi, Toso Vetri d’Arte, Gino Cenedese e Figlio, and Venini.

‘Glass is an incredible medium, at once mysterious, transparent and fragile,’ Sottsass said during one of his last interviews. ‘Glass, like ceramics, has a very peculiar characteristic: one doesn’t really know what goes into the furnace. Then all of a sudden a pure object breaks out, burnt by fire, an object of sheer purity and physical intangibility. It is like a vision. One is deeply involved when making glass. Glass is spectacular.’

With an exhibition layout by New York-based firm Selldorf Architects, who was responsible for the 2012 renovation of Le Stanze del Vetro, the showcase tracks the evolution of the designer’s works from the very first series he produced for the Vistosi glassworks in 1974, to the renowned sculptures he made with Toso Vetri d’Arte following the set up of the Memphis group in 1981.

Never-seen-before pieces include a series of sculptures, designed in 1999 at the request of the Sheik of Qatar, Saud Al Thani, for his Millenium House in Doha. The exhibition, which runs until 30 July, is accompanied by the first catalogue raisonné of the complete glass production by Sottsass, published by Skira.

INFORMATION

‘Ettore Sottsass: il vetro’ is on view until 30 July. For more information, visit the Le Stanze del Vetro website

ADDRESS

Le Stanze del Vetro
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore 1
Venice 30124

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS