Tag Archives: glass

This gorgeous desk will dominate any room with its mid-century design

Posted on by

Minimalism never meant small, though many products that espouse that design philosophy do tend to minimize the space they occupy. When it comes to desks and work tables, there has also been a trend to lean more towards space efficiency, especially since offices and homes often have limited space for large furniture. There are instances, however, when a desk does need to be the focal point of a room, especially in offices that are designed around a single person’s work or presence. If you have enough space for it, this wood and glass protractor desk will definitely be an eye-catching piece thanks to its clean, minimalist design that makes the desk seem to be magically floating on air.

Designer: Kardiel

Based on the original by Italian architect and designer Carlo Mollino, the 1949 Protractor Desk combines a mid-century aesthetic with modern design techniques to create a piece of architectural art worthy of becoming the centerpiece of any office or room. It uses very simple forms yet has an air of sophistication to it through its use of fine materials and organic lines.

Although it is literally the most minimal part of the piece, the mid-century Protractor Desk’s unbelievably thin legs immediately catch your attention, puzzling the mind on how it is able to hold the glass tabletop aloft at all. Shaped like a boomerang or an opened compass, the wooden beams form intersecting and contrasting lines that give the table a dynamic character. The horizontal beam has oblong cutouts that give the illusion of an invisible frame. There is very little to obscure your view beneath the desk, leaving ample room for a chair to slide into.

Of course, its airy appearance is just an illusion, and the desk’s fine legs on one side are balanced by a slatted wooden cube that is home to five drawers. Four stainless steel bolts connect the box to the end of the wooden beam. Its solid and simpler form provides a sharp contrast to the thin legs on the opposite side, providing both visual and structural balance to the desk. Opposite the box is an open-faced single pull-out drawer that seemingly floats in the air, supported only by two steel rods. This reinforces the table’s almost ethereal design, which complements and contrasts the earthy tones of its wooden body.

The 1949 Protractor Desk is definitely long by regular desk measures, about 98.4 inches long to be precise. You’ll need to reserve a lot of space for this piece of furniture, but given its dominating presence and eye-catching design, it’s one that you’ll want to really stand out anyway.

The post This gorgeous desk will dominate any room with its mid-century design first appeared on Yanko Design.

Gravity Well transforms invisible science into an ethereal cosmic chandelier

Posted on by

Science is all around us, whether we see it or not, from the simple chemistry that turns carbon dioxide into oxygen to the invisible forces that push and pull to keep everything from falling apart. We can only imagine these forces at work, or at best, visualize them in diagrams and 3D models, but they will always remain alien to us and, to some extent, unimportant. Just like natural elements and phenomena can inspire magnificent works of art and designs, these invisible forces, too, can become wellsprings of inspiration in their own right. This chandelier, for example, offers a stunning representation of one of the most powerful forces in the universe that keeps planets and stars from flying away and bumping into each other.

Designer: Richard Clarkson

Unlike other forces like magnetism that can sometimes be visualized through magnetic fields, gravity isn’t easily represented other than through arrows and lines. Most of us probably think of graving as something like a string that pulls heavenly bodies toward another, depending on their mass. It’s an oversimplification of Newtonian gravity, of course, but it isn’t the only way to think about gravity.

The genius that was Albert Einstein describes gravity as a sort of distortion instead, specifically a warping not just of space but also of time. This “gravity well” moves along with a mass, and if it’s a large mass, it pulls smaller masses along the curves or distortions it creates, causing that same gravitational effect described earlier. This more dynamic representation of gravity is what this chandelier tries to make real, freezing the pull of planets in time and turning it into a lighting fixture that is easily a sculptural piece of art as well.

Three handblown glass spheres of different sizes represent planets and other heavenly bodies that cause the deformation of time-space. Made from borosilicate glass, the spheres are made to be resistant to thermal shock, a fitting analogy to the weathered planets they represent. And just like different planets have different compositions, these spheres can be any combination of clear or frosted glass, complementing each other with their contrasting transparencies.

A frosted acrylic disc serves as the sphere’s resting place, with grooves to hold the glass balls in place. This makes it look like the disc is being deformed by the mass of these objects, creating a visual representation of Einstein’s gravitational well. A single light source, which works with any standard E26-compatible bulb, can be placed anywhere above. Depending on its position, the chandelier can reflect, refract, or diffuse the light, creating an almost eerie yet mystical glow, also like the gentle lights of celestial bodies in the night sky.

The Gravity Well Chandelier offers a stunning visualization of abstract scientific theories that can accentuate any space. It’s a conversation starter for anyone, whether they’re immersed in modern physics, art, or anything in between. It’s almost like a science lesson wrapped in a beautiful lighting fixture, standing as a statement to the beauty of science and the natural world that remain untapped even today.

The post Gravity Well transforms invisible science into an ethereal cosmic chandelier first appeared on Yanko Design.

These elegant colored glass pieces are actually dyed using crushed stones

Posted on by

Just like with clothing, it’s also too easy to take for granted how glass-based products can actually be harmful to the environment in the long run. While glass itself is made from sustainable resources, the dyes used to give them vibrant colors are toxic to the environment. Even worse, colored glass can’t easily be recycled because of that mixture and because it’s nearly impossible to bring the material back to its natural transparent state. To make decorative glass truly sustainable, a new method of coloring glass needs to be developed, and one designer embarked on a journey of two years and hundreds of miles to come up with a solution that matches Haute Joaillerie in elegance but surpasses it in sustainability.

Designer: Salome Maarek

Glass is beautiful and useful in so many ways. It is used in furniture as functional parts of tables and shelves, and it is used in decorative pieces that require reflective or transparent surfaces and faceted forms. It can even be used in place of precious stones, and, of course, stained glass has been in use for centuries. As beautiful as it may be, colored glass apparently has a dirty secret. They are, unfortunately, toxic to the environment both in their production and disposal.

In searching for a better way to make beautiful glass, Jerusalem-based Salome Maarek looked to natural stones for the answer. The designer initially considered dyes from fruits and plants but realized that they had their own negative environmental impact as well. Stones, on the other hand, are in abundance, but Maarek didn’t just grab any stone. The stones are locally sourced, that is, they come from different regions in Israel. And to make the process environment-friendly from start to finish, the stones were gathered while journeying on foot or by bus.

The glass itself is made from typical ingredients like silica, sodium bicarbonate, dolomite, and the like, while crushed stone powder is mixed in to act as natural dye. The stones themselves come in various forms like potash, copper, sand, and clay, and this variety has resulted in different colors and textures. So far, the process has yielded colors such as moldavite green, turquoise blue, indigolite, amber-orange, and tourmaline yellow, all without the use of harmful chemicals and materials.

There are some considerations that make this sustainable way of making colored glass a bit more difficult than normal, harmful colored glass. For example, the glass was melted at only 1,200C for hours, which is a lower but more sustainable temperature. This meant that the glass had to be mold-blown rather than using a more common hand-blowing technique.

The result, however, is definitely worth all that work, with a beautiful piece of colored glass that can withstand pressure up to 5 tons. It can also survive temperature changes without cracking, unlike regular colored glass. And even if made with unconventional materials and methods, the result is glass that can be used as a more durable alternative to Haute Joaillerie, offering gorgeous pieces of gem-like glass that don’t show a single clue that they were colored using ordinary stone.

The post These elegant colored glass pieces are actually dyed using crushed stones first appeared on Yanko Design.

Air-Shape is a lamp design idea that will give any room a dreamlike atmosphere

Posted on by

Not all lamps have to conform to basic shapes or even reality.

Lamps bring light to houses and rooms, but that’s not the only thing they can offer. With their own design and personality, they can change the tone of a room as effectively as their lights. They can convey a sense of serenity or calculating precision, warmth or cold, minimalism or extravagance. Lamps can take many forms and take inspiration from many sources, showcasing nature’s innate beauty or mankind’s acquired artistry. They can also become messengers of whimsy, playfulness, and even dreams, like a pendant and wall lamp that almost keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for the delicate bubble to pop and scatter in the wind.

Designer: Sunriu

It’s not difficult to deduce the inspiration for this work of art that’s also meant to be a design for an actual lamp. Many of us would have had fond memories of blowing bubbles through circular devices, sometimes screaming in glee as each ephemeral sphere floated and then popped. There is something otherworldly about bubbles as they display the different colors of the rainbow on their translucent surfaces. Our hazy childhood memories of these playful times even add to the fanciful imagery of bubbles.

It is that emotion that the Air-Shape concept design tries to capture in an almost ethereal manner. It’s as if the bubble is frozen in time, stuck at the moment of its birth when it wavers and trembles against gentle winds until it takes its final spherical shape. Its form has an element of uncertainty and fragility that also sends a message of potential and birthing. A bubble doesn’t simply come out perfectly formed from a flat, soapy surface, after all.

Naturally, glass would be the perfect material to bring this idea to life. Iridescent glass, in particular, captures the prismatic qualities of the bubble’s surface, while traditional glass blowing methods could help create the random yet gentle bumps of the Air-Shape’s bubble-inspired form. The metal ring not only serves as the visual portal from which the delicate shape rises but also houses the actual lighting that sets the mood for this fixture.

The Air-Shape lamp can be hung in different ways. It can turn any wall into a magical surface that is seemingly capable of generating dreams and flights of fancy. Hanging above tables or heads, the lamp creates a light and fun atmosphere that reflects its own whimsical design. Whichever way you place it, the lighting is sure to change the room’s tone the moment light starts to dance on its glass surface.

Air-Shape is definitely a striking concept for a pendant lamp or a wall lamp, one that could prove tricky to pull off in reality. It is almost as if the very lamp itself is too delicate to bring into the real world, blessed and cursed to remain as a figment of our imagination. It is the stuff that dreams are made of, just like rainbows and bubbles.

The post Air-Shape is a lamp design idea that will give any room a dreamlike atmosphere first appeared on Yanko Design.

Mussel shell waste is a sustainable alternative to traditional glass making techniques

Posted on by

With people becoming more conscious about consumption, waste, and other things related to the environment, there are a lot of designers always on the lookout for more eco-friendly materials. We’re seeing a lot of experimentation and research into looking for waste and other things that can be recycled and upcycled into sustainable materials for building other things. Glassmaking is one of those industries that use a lot of highly processed and sometimes unsustainable materials so finding an alternative to all of this is a priority for some.

Designer: Bureau de Change and Lulu Harrison

A group of architects based in London and a design student looked into finding such an alternative to be used in the glassmaking industry. They discovered that the quagga mussel, a species of freshwater mussels, can actually be used as an ingredient in creating glass tiles. By mixing the quagga mussel shell waste with local sands and waste wood ash, they were able to create a “unique glass recipe” which can theoretically be used in building designs in the future.

This new bio-material is named Thames Glass and the initial output using this material are some 3D printed molds with decorative patterns. The design is inspired by the terracotta chimney pots of Royal Doulton, a ceramics manufacturer. Not only are they looking at using these tiles for building designs, but they also want to use them to design carafes and tumblers. With people now more conscious about bringing their own water instead of buying bottled water, this can become another way to bring this full circle.

Quagga mussel shells are usually found clogging up the water pipes, a problem that has been a thorn on the side of Thames Water, a private company that supplies most of the water in the greater London area. They’ve spent millions of pounds every year just to remove these shells and sometimes ineffectively. But if you can turn this annoying waste into something useful, then not only do you solve the clogging problem but you also create an eco-friendly solution.

The post Mussel shell waste is a sustainable alternative to traditional glass making techniques first appeared on Yanko Design.

Glass Chicken Wine and Whiskey Decanter Set: Cock-A-Doodle-Drink

Posted on by

Because what better way to let guests know you take Thanksgiving far more seriously than anyone ever should, The Wine Savant has crafted the Rooster Glass Decanter Set. Available on Amazon (affiliate link), the set features a headless rooster decanter, along with two tasting glasses. Obviously, it’s perfect for sipping turkey gravy at the dinner table while your family watches in horror.

The cock-a-doodle-decanter holds 500ml of your favorite wine or spirit and has received 5 out of 5 stars according to nine reviews on Amazon. Clearly, there’s something I’m missing here. Per one verified buyer: “This cock will be proudly displayed for every party we have moving forward.” Well, the thing I’m missing definitely isn’t maturity.

Personally, I don’t drink anything that warrants decanting, but that’s just me, and I’m old-fashioned. And by old fashioned, I mean drink cheap domestic beer out of a beer helmet. My wife hates it, especially when I insist on wearing it at the fancy dinner parties her friends throw.

[via Sad and Useless]

Traditional Czechoslovakian glassmakers handcraft these multifaceted glass crystal light fixtures

Posted on by

Bomma implements the Czechoslovakian craft of glassmaking to produce whimsical, yet elegant displays of glass crystal light fixtures.

Bomma is a glassmaking company that specializes in the traditional Czechoslovakian craft of glassmaking to produce customized household fixtures and decorative interior elements. The tradition dates back centuries in the East Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. Bringing it into the contemporary world, modern technologies and bespoke machinery join arms with master craftsmen to deliver fixtures rooted in history built for today’s world.

Designer: Bomma, Dechem Studio, studio deFORM, rückl, Ota Svoboda

Hailing from Dechem Studio, studio deFORM, and rückl, the designers, including Ota Svoboda, behind Bomma’s recent line have been inspired by irregular shapes of the natural world. The craftsmen work with six tons of refined, extra-clear crystal each and every day to add to the company’s eighteen collections of light fixtures. Five different glass crystal compositions comprise Bomma’s Constellations project, which takes one of the five crystal compositions and configures them into bespoke lighting fixtures.

The Pyrite collection, inspired by the mineral of its namesake, is defined by and recognized for its cubic structure. “By blowing a molten organic substance into a precise cold form, the skilled hands of our glassmakers create a unique light fixture of [an] elemental, yet perfect shape,” the glassmakers at Bomma go on to describe, “The gleaming surface of this hand-blown crystal cube is enclosed from three sides by a polished metal component in either silver or gold tones.”

The Dark & Bright Star collection takes fun house lighting and gives it a touch of coordinated elegance to resemble the look of a starry night sky. “The light source is placed within each mouth-blown piece,” the craftsmen describe the textured glass covering as, “the shining center of a precisely cut crystal star.”

Keeping with the same whimsical personality, Bomma’s Soap Mini collection consists of an asymmetrical collection of raindrop-shaped glass light bulbs. When configured in a cluster together, the light bulbs are meant to take on the look of irregular, cartoon clouds of soap bubbles as the designers note, “Each piece is hand-blown without a mold, producing an original in both shape and color.”

Bomma describes the Lens collection as “hypnotic,” for its bulbous glass coverings and shaded color tones. Characterized by two convex lens coverings that encase the bulb’s light source, “two lenses harmoniously encapsulate their interior light source, playing a symphony of reflections.

In close collaboration with Bomma’s sister brand, Rückl, the Metamorphosis collection “combines the talents of these sister glassmaking brands – the breathtaking art of hand-cut crystal from Rückl, with exceptional technical solutions and the principle of light constellations typical for Bomma.”

The fixtures stand out for their snakeskin-like textures that form into the shapes of Chinese lanterns. Coated in muted tones of black, amber, and white, the Metamorphosis collection is all about the mood lighting.

Suspended from the ceiling, the collections of light fixtures create dazzling chandelier displays. 

The craftsmen work with heavy glass fixtures using only their hands and bespoke machinery. 

Requiring a team of builders, the light fixtures are handblown and molded into shape.

Each step of the process is delicate and requires the finest touch. 

The post Traditional Czechoslovakian glassmakers handcraft these multifaceted glass crystal light fixtures first appeared on Yanko Design.

OnePlus 10 Pro brings back a rarely used color and material

Posted on by

It’s only just February, and we’ve already seen quite a number of new phones unveiled. Unsurprisingly, Samsung hogged most of the spotlight, though its gigantic tablet might actually be overshadowing its flagship smartphone. One of the earliest brands to reveal their hand this year, however, still hasn’t made its phone available outside of China. In the meantime, OnePlus has just announced a new color variant for that still MIA OnePlus 10 Pro, painting it with a combination of white and black that it has unabashedly associated with a panda.

White phones aren’t exactly new, but they have become rarer as the mobile industry moved towards glass back panels. There are a few exceptions, of course, like Apple and its propensity to paint everything white. Google also tried it with what became known as the “Panda” Pixel 2 XL back in 2017. Now OnePlus is borrowing the name and probably has a better reason to call this OnePlus 10 Pro variant “Panda White.”

The new phone color installs a layer of white ceramic on the back of the phone. The camera bump, which looks like a giant monocle for four eyes, is painted black, contrasting sharply yet nicely with the white surface around it. In the middle of that black mass, however, is a white circle that houses the LED flash with another black circle inside it, making it look like an eye. With this color combination, it’s not hard to imagine a one-eyed panda staring at you from the back of the phone.

As mentioned, a white and black colorway for a phone isn’t unheard of but uncommon these days. It’s not that manufacturers don’t want to make them, especially considering how some buyers do actually want this color. As OnePlus explains, it’s actually tricky and expensive to produce white glass panels for phones. Even the slightest imperfection or contamination in the process will have catastrophic effects on the production line.

OnePlus, however, upped the ante even more by using ceramic instead of glass, a material that’s far rarer than white phones. It’s a premium material that feels great in your hand, giving a warm feeling that isn’t affected by how hot the phone is running. It’s also more durable than glass but also more expensive and more difficult to work with. It took the company 100 tries before finally settling on a final design.

It’s no surprise, then, that OnePlus will be limiting this Panda White Ceramic finish to the “Extreme Edition” of the phone, and we expect it to be a lot more expensive than its other forms. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 10 Pro still has to make its way to other markets, including the US, probably by March or April. By then, however, the buzz might have already died out, presuming it even brings this Panda phone outside of China.

Designer: OnePlus

The post OnePlus 10 Pro brings back a rarely used color and material first appeared on Yanko Design.

A tiny glass cabin lets you enjoy Finnish nature in warmth and safety

Posted on by

For those who dream of living with nature but worry they might not have the stomach for it, this cabin in Finland might have the perfect answer.

Congested cities, crowded spaces, and COVID-19 may have had some people thinking about escaping to the great outdoors. Even the biggest technophiles will probably admit to being in awe in the face of the splendor of nature. Few, however, might have the heart to really camp out and give up on modern amenities for even just a day. An architectural firm in Finland has thought of the perfect solution, presuming you have no qualms about living in a tiny cabin that has glass for its roof and walls.

Designer: Luauri Solo/Pirinen Salo Oy

The Smart Lucia gives a whole new meaning to “living in a glass house,” though the glass, in this case, is far from the fragile material that the idiom implies. The glass here serves as more than just a safe viewing window into Finland’s majestic greenery. The thermal glass, along with glass and floor heating, will save you from frostbite during the country’s notoriously unforgiving winters. Then again, there might not be much to see during that season anyway, unless you’re the type that does enjoy frozen sceneries.

The glass allows natural light, be it from the sun or stars, to be the main lighting source for the cabin, though artificial lighting is also integrated into the structure’s slim steel structures. This has the combined effect of adding layers of lighting that seem almost magical, especially when the glass acts like a prism to break sunlight into its component colors.

In keeping with Finnish tastes, the Smart Lucia espouses a minimalist design even indoors. But where most houses make the living room or the dining table the centerpiece of the home, the bedroom or rather the bed is the pivotal element inside this tiny house. While the glass house is situated and oriented to capture the best views of nature at that location, you can really enjoy that view only when you’re lying in bed.

Of course, privacy can become an issue with a house that has glass for walls, and there are definitely options to address those concerns. Darkened or mirrored glass is available, but that could affect one’s unmarred view of the outside world. The simplest solution would be to have curtains that cover only the lower half of the house, obscuring only portions of the vista when the need calls for it.

Pirinen Salo Oy’s Smart Lucia is perhaps a dream come true for minimalists looking in search of tiny homes in the heart of nature. It probably won’t be the most efficient tiny home and is unlikely to be accessible to most people, even those living in Finland. Its design and concept, however, do spark the imagination and open up possibilities for enjoying the majesty of nature in a safe, comfortable, and modern but hopefully still environment-friendly environment.

The post A tiny glass cabin lets you enjoy Finnish nature in warmth and safety first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sustainable tiles made of recycled glass gathered from old appliances are reducing electronic waste!

Posted on by

Everyone is chasing the next sustainable material that will change the design industry, from seaweed to mushroom no stone (or plant) is left unturned given how urgently we need alternatives to combat climate change. But at the same time, very few are looking at how to recycle existing sustainable materials like glass that can give them a second life! Common Sands is a design project focused on just that – recycling glass from consumer electronics and turning them into tiles that would otherwise end up with electronic waste.

Glass is sustainable from its origin to its end. While the process of making it contributes to emissions like most things, we can counteract it by extending the life of the glass as it is infinitely recyclable rather than letting it go to waste only to make more of it. Sand is a crucial resource to our technology-focused society, it does a lot more than lay at the beach! We production of silicon microchips, fiberoptic cables, insulation, solar cells, and it is also the primary ingredient in glass which is used in the production of consumer electronic products such as fridges, microwaves, and computers.

Despite strenuous attempts to extract, transport, refine and process sand into complex electronic components, not much is done to recycle these components when the electronic goods are discarded after use partly because there are no clear directives on effectively processing glass from electronic waste. To address this issue, a Norwegian architectural design office called Snøhetta collaborated with Brussels-based Studio Plastique to research and explore the possibility of recycling as well as utilizing glass contained in electronic waste.

After multiple trials, prototypes, and variations, the team developed a standard process for recycling electronic waste glass components as well as an application that integrates its variable material quality – glass tiles! This is where Italian ceramic tile manufacturer Fornace Brioni came in and brought their experience, industrial know-how, production facilities, and potential for scalability to the project to the table. The team is starting with waste glass from ovens and microwaves to demonstrate the aesthetic depth, function, and potential of the recycled material.

Using recycled glass, the team made tiles in two different sizes that were both opaque and transparent. Each one had a unique pattern and look, but all the tiles showed a deeply complex, terrazzo-like material quality. This determined that they are suitable for a wide range of architectural applications, including both surface coverage and semi-transparent partition elements! Common Sands has now turned potential waste into architectural glass tiles that are scalable, infinitely recyclable, and effectively reducing electronic waste!

Designers: Snøhetta, Studio Plastique, and Fornace Brioni

The post Sustainable tiles made of recycled glass gathered from old appliances are reducing electronic waste! first appeared on Yanko Design.