For some time now, British designers Barber Osgerby have been working with legendary Italian glass producer Venini (located on the island of Murano outside Venice). The fruits of their collaboration with the glass Masters are now unveiled at London’s Vessel Gallery.
‘Lanterne Marine’ by Barber Osgerby for Venini
VESSEL GALLERY
114 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2PW (020 7727 8001)
The designers explain the project:
“The island of Murano is a beguiling place. The glass factories were banished here in 1291 to protect Venice from fire, and unlike the main island, the only way of getting there is by boat. It was through our frequent boat trips from the mainland to Murano that this project was conceived.
While traveling through the Venetian lagoon, we observed how metal frames or cages were used in different types of nautical objects: not just for protecting the hanging lamps on boats but also in the construction of the buoys, and around the timber posts ‘bricole’ that mark the traffic lanes through the lagoon.”
“In parallel with this observation, we were experimenting with combinations of glass forms, designing pieces which could interlock and stack together, creating new colours through layering.
We wanted to create vases that were made up of these interlocking pieces. We wanted them to be significant in size, and to do so we realised that we needed to make special metal connectors to help support the individual glass tops on the vessel base. As the designs evolved we extended the connectors into frames around the glass base. These are engineered from anodized aluminium, and are intended to evoke the vernacular of nautical objects found around Murano.
The edition is made up of three pieces in two colours each. The glass pieces combine archetypal vessels with opaque, open-tipped glass protuberances: these stamen-like pieces are intended to be filled with water and to hold flower stems.”
Tags Barber Osgerby | Lanterne Marine | Venini | Vessel Gallery
