Still & Sparkling by Nendo
Supported by Lasvit
Japanese designer Nendo discusses his inspiration and experience working with glass and with Lasvit’s team of artisans:
“I frequently work with transparent material, however I first began working with glass last year with Lasvit. Glass is the key transparent material of all. Since then, I’ve traveled from Japan to Lasvit’s glass workshop in Novy Bor, Czech Republic six times. During this time my partnership with Lasvit has helped me refine my skills in working with glass to achieve the quality and forms that are being shown in the current collection. —— The source of my inspiration is the glass hot chop. Every time I am in the glass workshop, watching the glassblowers in action, I discover little surprises. In this medium, the process defines the product: some of the results can be bizarre, even weird. The most exciting thing for me is not to control the process of blowing, but to see what new surprises it can produce. —— Each glass piece is unique. It depends on the individual glass blower and his strength. It is also about the physical laws that govern the material and the process, such as gravity. It is all about communication between the glass blower and the material. In this game, I provide design input, while recognizing that the glass blowers and Tomas Kamenec, the head of this project, are the real players.”
Still & Sparkling
Lasvit presents a new collection created by Japanese design star Nendo. Pure and minimalistic, Nendo’s Press Lamps, Inhale Lamp, Innerblow and Overflow tables, X-Ray Vase, and Growing Vases are all hand-blown by Lasvit’s glass masters. Each piece is uniquely formed, and each represents a brand new and unusual technique in hand-blown glass.
X-Ray Vase
This design is created by fine-tuning the two special characteristics of glass: transparency and reflection. Transparent glass domes cluster inside a larger glass dome with a thin vapor-deposited mirrored coating. Placing flowers inside creates an optical effect in which flowers and domes are both hidden and visible. A design created by fine-tuning the two special characteristics of glass: transparency and reflection.
X-Ray Vase Item ID —— 12X001-00 Dimensions —— Dia 470 x 450 mm Weight —— approx. 10 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— LED light bulb
Growing Vases
By critical and popular demand, this design, which debuted in Milan in 2011 and has been exhibited in London’s Mint Gallery, returns to Milan’s Superstudio this year. —— Extraordinary, playful, fresh, impractical, illogical, never seen before: these are the words that can be used to describe Lasvit’s Growing Vases. The ideal complement to the new Nendo designs presented at the Superstudio, this lighting installation alludes to a whimsical glass forest filled with abstract flowers and branches. Metal pipes used by glassblowers, still attached to the glass objects that they were used to make. By turning the pipes into flowers and branches and the glass into a vase, we literally turned convention on its head, making flowers blooming in vases into vases blooming from flowers to represent the flower bulbs that draw nutrients from plants through photosynthesis and store new life.
Growing Vases Item ID —— 11X003-00 Dimensions —— Dia 1000 x 1400 mm Weight —— 35 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass, stainless steel, white paint Light Source —— power LED
Inhale
Lamp
This lamp was formed by blowing glass into the form of an air bubble then sucking the air away. Ordinarily, glass is made by blowing air into the molten material. The inhale lamp, on the other hand, comes from the act of exhaling. It‘s a form created by negative air pressure.
Inhale Lamp (large) Item ID —— 12X004-00 Dimensions —— Dia 410 (approx.) x H315 mm Weight —— 3 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— E 27 max 40W
Innerblow &
Overflow
After great success in Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris, these two special designs are coming to Milan’s Superstudio. —— Innerblow —— This piece is inspired by the way glassblowers draw a lamp of molten glass into the tip of a metal pipe and create a form by expanding the glass with their breath, as it is blown down the metal. The glass masters expand the glass in a square metal form, and leave it in place rather than removing it. They then flip the form: the metal mold becomes the table’s legs, while the glass becomes its flat top surface. Each table is unique because each piece of handblown glass is unique. —— Overflow —— This piece derives from the unique forms created when the free-flowing glass liquid hardens in place. The glass masters place plate glass into a frame with one section missing, progressively heat the glass until it becomes molten, and allow the molten glass to drain from the void in the form. When they permit the glass to harden again, the edge responds to surface tension, creating a table with a surface that looks like a pool of water.
Innerblow (table) Item ID —— 12X005-00 Dimensions —— 500 x 500 x H 300 mm Weight —— 45 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass, stainless steel frame
Innerblow (bench) Item ID —— 12X006-00 Dimensions —— 1400 x 400 x H 300 mm Weight —— 190 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass, stainless steel frame
Overflow(06) Item ID —— 12X012-00 Dimensions —— W 490 x D 430 x H 310 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass
Overflow(08) Item ID —— 12X013-00 Dimensions —— W 510 x D 380 x H 310 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass
Overflow(11) Item ID —— 12X015-00 Dimensions —— W 485 x D 500 x H 310 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass
Overflow(12) Item ID —— 12X016-00 Dimensions —— W 480 x D 470 x H 560 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass
Overflow(01) Item ID —— 12X011-00 Dimensions —— W 350 x D 460 x H 560 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Overflow(09) Item ID —— 12X014-00 Dimensions —— W 350 x D 350 x H 710 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass
Press Lamp
The press design is availabe in two types: a pendant lamp and a oor lamp. In this design, glass tubes are pressed as though they have been pinched, and the light source is ďŹ tted 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.
Press Lamp (pendant) Item ID —— 12X007-00 Dimensions —— Dia 90 x 450 mm Weight —— 2 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— E 14 max 40W Press Lamp (floor lamp 01) Item ID —— 12X008-00 Dimensions —— Dia 140 x H 460 mm Weight —— 3 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— E 14 max 40W
Press Lamp (floor lamp 02) Item ID —— 12X009-00 Dimensions —— Dia 140 x H 630 mm Weight —— 5 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— E 14 max 40W
Press Lamp (floor lamp 03) Item ID —— 12X010-00 Dimensions —— Dia 140 x H 800 mm Weight —— 6 kg Material —— artistic hand-blown glass Light Source —— E 14 max 40W
Still & Sparkling by Nendo First published and distributed by Lasvit s.r.o. Edited and produced by Lasvit s.r.o. Book Design – Denisa Myšková / Symbiont Photo – Yoneo Kawabe, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Filip Šlapal, Jaroslav Moravec Text © Nendo and Lasvit 2012 © Lasvit 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systes or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright owner(s). Printed and bound in the Czech Republic – T.A. Print
Lasvit s.r.o. nám. Míru 55 Nový Bor, 473 01 Czech Republic Tel: +420 481 120 810 Fax: +420 481 120 622 Email: lasvit@lasvit.com www.lasvit.com Nendo Inc. Tokyo office 2-2-16-5F Shimomeguro Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-0064 Japan tel:+81-(0)3-6661-3750 fax:+81-(0)3-6661-3751 info@nendo.jp Milan office Via della Moscova 53, 20121 Milan Italy www.nendo.jp