Glass and Design

Glass Design

Glass and design, a combination of material and creativity. In this article I want to talk about the many uses of a versatile material such as glass, whose robust transparency has enabled countless artistic creations of objects, furniture or furnishings of exclusive design.

In the image below, an example of furniture design glass: this is the Ghost armchair, designed in 1987 by Cini Boeri for the company Fiam: it is a cult classic of Italian design, exhibited at MoMA in New York. A monolithic model, ie realized in a single piece of curved glass, to form a shape with soft and fluid lines, which lets the light through.

A brief hint regarding the composition and production process of the glass, to better understand the high malleability, both handcraftet and manufactured.

The glass is a mineral substance, obtained artificially by fusion at high temperature, of a mixture of oxides of silicon, sodium, calcium, boron, aluminum and other chemical elements, in variable percentages depending on the quality of glass.

Such a mixture of chemical compounds, typically has the property to crystallize slowly. For which it manages to shape the glass when it is still fluid, in a range of temperature at which possesses a viscosity such that it can be worked, retaining the shape imparted, without alterations.

Crystal is a type of glass also containing lead oxide, which gives a greater refraction of light, and therefore an increase of the brilliance.

Therefore, the glass is a material of choice, I'd say it can take many forms, or it can be transparent or opaque, and variously colored. It is also very resistant even to chemical attack, and is very ductile, because it can be worked in a variety of shapes, even curvilinear or filiform; these characteristics have made it a source of inspiration for the works of the greatest architects and designers in the world.

Console bathroom furniture, printed glass

In my free-hand drawing, you can see a piece of a bathroom furniture, printed glass: I designed t, imagining to shape a single sheet of glass, which could contain in it also the sink. A single sheet of glass, which starts from the ground, as the left vertical structural, which, by bending at 90°, then becomes supporting surface for bathroom accessories; but not only, at the center of such horizontal extension, will form the concavity of the sink.

This concavity-sink has been obtained for the curvature of the glass sheet, shaping four inclined walls, so as to obtain a sink shaped geometric measure, which takes the form of an inverted trapezoid.

Then a cut of the plate, is curved downwards, forming a small horizontal arm, parallel to the top, with the function of towel holder. The remaining part of the slab, that now has a reduced depth, can continue upward, going to turn, through various curves, in small and comfortable shelves.

Finally, the top terminal becomes shelf-hat, in which is inserted a strip of LED lights: to illuminate the large oval mirror.

For secure attachment to the wall of the whole structure in the crystal, I have included two steel support brackets, one at the end of the top shelf, the more prominently on the left angle of the top, next to objects on surfaces.

The ideal material to achieve such a structure, the crystal can be tempered, so-called because it undergoes a heat treatment, followed by a sudden cooling with cold air. This produces a crystal in which forces remain internal voltage, which, in case of accidental breakage, means that it is shattered into tiny fragments not sharp.

So the tempered glass, due to its high strength and resistance to thermal shock, is one of the safety glass; and is widely used for structural, architectural or furniture pieces.

Example of kitchen design glass

Here is another example of an expression of design in glass, since the kitchen Crystalli model by Cassandra, icon of the international.

This model, with its curved shape, appears in the perspective drawing, like a big snail, which incorporates all the elements of a fully equipped kitchen.

Original certainly for the development of its round shape, in the vertical dimension to the wall, rather than in the horizontal dimension, for sure the most usual in the designs.

Here we have an ovoid perspective of tops and wall units with asymmetrical openings, whose fronts are covered, in this case, with black lacquered glass.

In the picture we see a version with island, also lacquered glass, but white. Very scenic so it reflected the effect of space and brightness, sinuous glass facade, this futuristic shaped kitchen.