Over the past few years, stained glass has gone from a dusty antique item in an old home to modern works of art. With the industry making a comeback into the luxury scene, interior designers are challenging themselves to design a space around the ornate glass. Here are a few different ideas:
Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass
Photo courtesy of Florence Broadhurst Fabrics
Stained glass can add a pop of color and make your space feel both cozy and modern. The green colors on this partition add a bright finish to the room, making it the centerpiece for all the other furniture to gather around it. While still looking modern, it brings back an old-school style to provide a sense of comfort as well. Nowadays, adding a piece of stained glass to a home brings a unique style unlike any other — one that brings you back in time, while also staying ahead of the times, too.
Located in New Haven, Connecticut, the Blake Hotel adds a unique style to the space by featuring the work of Bespoke Glass, a studio-based business in Brooklyn, New York. The different shades of blue colors and the glimmer of the glass adding a retro look that transports you to a different time in the past, while also staying current and on-trend. The placement of the blue pieces adds an edgy and one-of-a-kind appearance. Not only is it a partition, but it’s a work of art in its own right.
Photo courtesy of Reed McKendree
Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass
By changing the designs stained glass was normally confined to in the past, studios and interior designers around the globe are beginning to take out the dusty antiques from their storage bins and create works of art instead. With so many different styles and colors, the possibilities are endless.
These extraordinary women found a way to make their mark in the design world, though once considered something of a boy’s club. Here are highlights of the acclaimed designs by the industry’s leading ladies, talents who are innovating beautifully.
Liquefy Table
Patricia Urquiola, 2017
Patricia Urquiola continues to produce timeless, contemporary designs. Each are defined by a stunning sense of color, texture and material that creates beautiful and functional works of art. Her latest collaboration with Glas Italia comes in the form of the Liquefy Table, an elegant set of tables that evokes a feeling of fluidity. Available as a high or low table and in two different colors, Liquefy is a dynamic design and an instant statement piece.
SVS Rugs
Salem Van der Swaagh
Salem Van Der Swaagh is a textile designer, committed to creating products that have both environmental and social impact. All rugs are designed and hand woven in Berlin, using 100 percent salvaged material from industrial weaving, then repurposed into highly textured, luxurious wool products.
Model 71
Bodil Kjær, 1959
Bodil Kjaer’s iconic upholstered series produced a variety of career-defining designs, including a sofa, lounge chair, bench and low table designed for use in public spaces of contemporary architecture. The Model 71 lounge chair exudes a classic, Mid-Century elegance through impeccably tailored loose cushions and a unique polished metal vaulted leg adding additional comfort and stability while creating a floating effect, a common thread throughout Bodil Kjær’s work.
Modern Line Sofa
Greta Grossman, 1949 | 2015
Modern Line was one of Greta Grossman’s most elegant and minimalistic designs, praised in particular for being representative of her background in Scandinavian design. Her timeless sofa collection has a sleek, feminine and light expression that is supported with elegant slender legs. In her words, the sofa was “developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way.”
Miira Suspension
Sofie Refer
Miira is a series of lamps in a simple and timeless design, embracing Nordic design’s commitment to both elegance and function. The neatly mouth-blown glass and processed metal give the design balance and depth, while soft light shines from the glass globes creating a warm and unique atmosphere within a room. Shapely and subtle, Miira is brought to life by its fine curves and thin neck, adding to its graceful appearance. Available in a variety of configurations.
Photos courtesy of Suite NY
After choosing the perfect dining table, preparing an unforgettable meal, and gathering your guests, don’t forget to select a set of dinnerware that will showcase your style.
The way we display our food has become a delicate form of art, from intricately drizzled sauces to the dishes on which they are served. Cristina Vezzini and Stan Chen are making elegance easy with their stunning dinnerware collection. Vezzini & Chen is a combination of hand-carved ceramics and hand-blown glass, which gives each piece a unique touch.
Vezzini, originally from Italy, and Chen, who is from Taiwan, met while attending The Royal College of Art and continued working together after graduation in their London studio. Although the two specialize in different materials and techniques, Chen being the skilled glassblower and Vezzini focusing on handcrafted ceramics, the team is a cohesive unit, which shines through in their work.
It is unlikely that you’ll find another set like Vezzini & Chen’s because each and every piece is handmade and carefully constructed by the duo. Their broad range of inspiration also adds an exclusive aspect to each set. Inspiration from nature, such as fire and water elements, comes through in their designs and pairs nicely with the natural materials that they mold.
Vezzini & Chen’s Hexa Plates and Hexa Bowls are inspired by the idea of looking through water, and the layered, multi-faceted image that appears on the other side. The bowls and plates are available in four signature textures.
Just a glimpse of Vezzin & Chen’s work include these other remarkable collections. The Hexa Wine Glasses are also available in four textures, but each individual glass is as unique as a snowflake.The Horizon Wine Glasses are delicate, hand engraved, and unforgettable. Buyers will certainly want a set of their own, but the hand-carved ceramic plates are part of a limited edition for the Spring Restaurant in London.
Light, geometry, texture, and repetition are also a large part of Vezzini’s designs, which contrasts Chen’s smooth, flawless glass creations nicely. The two designers use these inspirations to work together and bring their pieces to life. Vezzini & Chen’s dinnerware collections will stand out on any table!
Photos courtesy of Vezzini & Chen
Contemporary hand-blown glass pieces are taking over as glass blowers are creating everything from unique lighting fixtures to colorful vases.
Photo by Richard Waite for Soneva
Harmonizing perfectly with both modern and classic spaces, hand-blown glass pieces “bring life and atmosphere to any living area, regardless of the mood that you have created,” says Hassan El Maoula, the commercial director at Verrum.
Whether hanging from the ceiling or positioned on a dining room table, homeowners are increasingly craving a personalized look to their space. “The beauty of hand-blown glass pieces is that each one is unique and no two are exactly alike,” adds El Maoula.
Reviving traditional glass-making craftsmanship, Verreum produces vases, lamps, small furniture pieces and more in collaboration with international designers, including Sacha Walckhoff.
Fascinated by the hand-blown procedure, El Maoula says that “witnessing a magical process, watching a human being drafting and breathing life into an object or material and turning it into a living soul, is a fabulous creation process.”
Jonathan Rogers’ Filigrana Pendant Mesh
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Rogers
Verrum Double Jeu Large Vase, Bronze and Pink
Photo courtesy of Filip Beranek
Verrum Double Jeu Carafe and Tumbler
Photo Courtesy of Filip Beranek
Jonathan Rogers, who started blowing glass at the age of 16, also creates hand-crafted glass pieces. Launching exclusively with Heal’s, the Filigrana pendant explores texture and pattern using a traditional Venetian cane-work technique. Rogers meticulously handcrafts each glass pendant in his workshop to create truly one-of-a-kind designs.
Meanwhile the Soneva Fushi resort in the Maldives is taking hand-blown glass to the next level. In addition to creating visually exciting pieces, Soneva now uses local recycled glass — collecting between 1,100 and 2,200 pounds of glass from neighboring islands each month.
In conjunction with the Soneva Art & Glass program, the glass is washed, crushed and delivered to Soneva’s Glass Studio, where it is melted down in the company’s glass furnace and blown into extraordinary pieces of art. “Every piece from the smallest and most simple to the largest and most complex is one of a kind,” says Evan Venaas, chief glass specialist at Soneva Fushi.
Venaas believes that Soneva has started some very important conversations following its decision to be eco-conscious. “The fragile ecosystem exists everywhere in the world but it is increasingly important that humans realize that we are part of it,” he explains, “and that we make conscious decisions in life and business that support that understanding.”
