Glas Italia has released its innovative 2024 collection with furniture pieces from the incredible minds of Michael Anastassiades, Piero Lissoni, Philippe Starck, Patricia Urquiola, and Yabu Pushelberg, where glass was transformed and reinterpreted driving the concept of each project. Keep reading to see what they were able to accomplish!
The Kazimir Console and Kazimir Table are Michael Anastassiades‘ first works created in tandem with Glas Italia. Sculptural and refined, the geometric designs are inspired by artist Kazimir Severinovič Malevič and the geometric abstractionism he favored. Each Kazimir piece is made by overlapping sheets of a specially tempered, double-sided, green acid-etched glass or laminated double-sided acid-etched extralight glass. Both types of glass use a special UV bonding method that helps to keep the angles sharp and the seams invisible.
Piero Lissoni adds two fresh ideas to the 2024 catalog with the Ratio desk and Obliquo open storage units. High-quality materials allow the minimal designs and precise details to elevate the simplicity of each piece. The boxy Ratio is petite with a significant visually impactful. Lissoni designed the desk using 10mm tempered smoked glass boxes that are glued at 45-degree angles, cantilevered, and overlapped with some additional support from minimal black chrome metal joints. Ratio counterbalances its compartmentalized left side with a solid matte black Ash leg on the right. The horizontal box, the desk’s main surface, holds a solid black Ash sliding drawer with velvet inserts, while the other two boxes can be used as storage. These compartments are available in either smoked glass or with a back panel and a colored transparent glass finish.
Lissoni’s Obliquo open storage units also utilize glazing, in this case 4 and 6mm laminated glass with a polished ground edge that’s heat-sealed at 45 degrees. The exterior of each piece features a bright, mirrored chrome finish, while the interior mirror is opaque with a distorted reflection.
Philippe Starck contributed three experimental, sophisticated designs utilizing glass. The Compression Dining Table, Crystal Stool, and two Menteur Mirrors are each full of character and that signature Starck style. “Like fire and water, the marriage of glass and wood in a technological miracle,” Phillipe Starck says.
The Compression Dining Table brings together glass, solid wood, and chromed steel using an interlocking system. The series of rectangular dining tables uses 19mm transparent glass for the top and 24mm tempered transparent glass for the base. A lone solid oak beam runs through the center of both angled legs to add support, while chromed metal wedges are added to the holes on the beam to secure the glass sheets in place. Choose from two finishes: deeply brushed and waxed or charred.
With high load resistance and stability, Starck’s Crystal Stool is an impressive feat made using only glass. We have UV-bonded 4mm tempered transparent glass and innovative manufacturing processes to thank. For use as either a stool or side table, the silhouette and mirror-polished stainless-steel feet are the icing on the cake. “Sitting is good, but sitting on nothing is more poetic,” Starck remarks.
Four concave or convex mirrors – depending on the silver face – make up Starck’s Menteur family using a complex curvature technique that’s never been implemented before. The center of each mirror reveals a clear image, as expected, but the edges surprisingly share a deformed reflection, making the Menteur both practical and fun. Each mirror uses a single sheet of extra-clear glass that’s curved around the whole perimeter using complex bending techniques before being manually silvered. It is available in two sizes, a round mirror and a rectangular shape that can be hung vertically or horizontally. The back side of the concave version is available in the colors silver or orange Pantone 163C.
Patricia Urquiola’s Babar Tables continue the designer’s research into working with recycled glass. Round high and low tables are made using a mix of 100% recycled raw glass grit and glass shards, each handmade piece featuring irregular surfaces. That craftsmanship only adds to the charm and possibilities of an infinitely reusable material such as glass. Assemble and disassemble the legs easily using a system of metal plates. Babar is available in five different colors: ice, jade, clay, honey, and lavender.
Perhaps the most playful addition to Glas Italia this year is Urquiola’s Remis, a low table and console that utilize a wood structure laminated with cast glass tiles in a variety of colors. Do you see the visual illusion of perspective? The shape and position of the mosaic of tiles create an axonometric projection using parallelograms. Each table comes complete with a fully functional, invisible drawer to hold your valuables and secrets.
The new additions to Glas Italia’s lineup conclude with Yabu Pushelberg’s extension of the Ollie collection, with a console joining the coffee table and totem bookcase released last year. The aesthetically driven piece of furniture features a curved, extra-clear piece of glass for storage underneath the main surface. A drawer is covered in glossy purple-lilac lacquered glass, and the vertical stand is 12+12mm laminated tempered glass with Trasparenti Colorati 120.
To learn more about Glas Italia’s 2024 releases, visit glasitalia.com.
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