Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: designers including Maarten Baas, Arik Levy and Maxim Velčovský introduce their new pieces for Lasvit in this movie filmed at the Czech lighting company’s Emotions show in Milan earlier this week.

Lasvit launched nine new collections at its Emotions show in Milan, including designs by a host of international designers as well as a series of kinetic sculptures by the company’s in-house team.

Czech designer Maxim Velčovský, who is also the company’s art director, created a series of hanging glass lamps called Frozen, which are created by pouring molten glass over a dome-shaped mould and left to cool.

“I was very much inspired by nature, when water becomes ice,” he says of the lamps, which are displayed in a cluster with drops of water running down them. “People are not sure whether they are looking at ice or glass, so they they knock on the lamp trying to figure it out.”

Dutch designer Maarten Baas created a modular chandelier called Das Pop using his signature Clay method in which a synthetic clay is moulded around a metal frame.

“It’s made all by hand and with Lasvit’s craftsman we also made hand-blown lightbulbs,” he explains. “Das Pop is one of my favourite Belgian bands, which is where the name comes from.”

Arik Levy designed a series of simple crystal-shaped pendants, which are available in a variety of different colours and opacities.

“We get reflections off the facets, even when the light is off,” he says. “When it’s on and when it’s off it always stays beautiful.”

The show also features the first glass chandelier by Daniel Libeskind. Called Ice, the piece is made up of clear glass cells blown into angular moulds, creating sharp, icicle-like forms.

“When you blow crystal, it’s typically bubbly and round,” says the American architect’s son, Lev Libeskind. “Our language has always been more angular and sharp. So we said, “What would happen if we took our sharpness and impose it on the glass?” The result provides a really interesting counterpoint between material and form.”

Lasvit’s Emotions show also features two moving glass sculptures, including a hanging lotus flower designed by Petra Krausová, which opens and closes in time to music and is controlled by an iPhone app.

Visual artist Jakub Nepraš also created a sculpture made from shards of glass shaped like a tree, onto which  a series of digital images are projected.

“There is craftsmanship, there is poetry behind each collection and this year there is also a lot of technology on show,” explains Lasvit founder and president Leon Jakimič. “I believe we are the first company to combine glass art with really advanced technology.”

Lasvit’s Emotions show, which also features designs by Michael Young and Czech designers Jan Plechac and Henry Wielgus, is at Office Stendhal on Via Stendhal in Milan and is open from 10am to 8pm until 13 April.

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craftsmanship with advanced technology” appeared first on Dezeen.

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Product news: these lamps by Nendo are made by pressing a glass tube to create a narrow gap that clamps the light source in place.

The glass tubes by Nendo for Lasvit look as if they have been pinched, and the simple fold in the material means that no additional structure is required to support the light fitting.

A suspension version hangs from the pinched section, while the light source of the floor lamp balances in the fold.

Each Press Lamp is unique, as the glass pieces are blown individually by artisans at Czech firm Lasvit‘s atelier. Photography is by Yoneo Kawabe.

In Milan earlier this year Japanese studio Nendo launched a series of glass vases with surfaces resembling patchwork quilts and teamed up with Italian designer Luca Nichetto to create a range of products including a scaly carpet and a knitted room divider.

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Here’s a short description from Lasvit:

Press Lamps, created by Nendo for Lasvit in 2012 are pure and minimalistic and are all hand-blown by Lasvit’s glass masters. Each piece is uniquely formed, and represents a brand new and unusual technique in hand-blown glass.

Cylindrical swing lamps and free-standing lamps twisted at the light bulb’s entrance. The Press Lamp design is available in two types: a pendant lamp and a floor lamp.

In this design, glass tubes are pressed as though they have been pinched, and the light source is fitted into the narrowed space that results. Unusual in the fact that it does not rely on a metal form, the compression of the glass produces a soft, organic form and imbues each lamp with a singular appearance.

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for Lasvit appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Japanese design studio Nendo has unveiled a collection of glass vases inspired by patchwork quilts at the Dilmos Gallery in Milan this week.

Nendo created the vases by reheating a variety of glass objects decorated with traditional cut glass patterns, slicing them open and then rearranging the pieces. “As a manner of making, the process was like sewing together animal hides, or piecing together small fragments of cloth to create a great patchwork quilt,” say the designers.

Patchwork Glass Vases, for Czech glassware brand Lasvit, are on show at the Dilmos Gallery, Piazza San Marco 1 until 14 April.

The Patchwork Glass collection also includes a pendant lamp, made using the same production technique, which is on show at Lasvit’s exhibition at Via Stendhal 35.

Other projects presented by Nendo in Milan this week include a chair shaped like a high-heeled shoe and a collection of products in collaboration with Italian designer Luca Nichetto. The designers also recently refurbished the womenswear floor of the city’s La Rinascente department store.

See all news and products from Milan 2013 or take a look at our interactive map featuring the highlights of the week’s exhibitions, parties and talks.

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by Nendo appeared first on Dezeen.