From May 7th- 28th American Design Club and Heller Gallery presented a show of works in glass by emerging designers. The show was the fifth in running by the AmDC since their establishment in 2008, and coincided with design week in New York. Here are some images from the private view (where noted credited images are via Heller Gallery’s website)

Heller Gallery

The Breakable show is overflowing with comparative interest to the contemporary glass work of the applied arts field. Heller Gallery typically focuses their curation on contemporary glass artists and the AmDC promotes emerging designers through shows normally based on conceptual themes but never before material. I’m lucky to spy on the glass students at the RCA- all making work that is deeply rooted in the interest of material quality and process. Many of them aim to highlight imperfections in the work so as to reveal the process of glass-making which is incredibly time consuming in labour and  pursuit of technical skill. The theme of glass puts many designers in an interesting arena because they do not necessarily have the same context and relationship with material as an artist or craftsman whose focus revolves primarily on application and process. Thus their ideas are held in a crossover that one might call applied concept; Some have a stronghold, convincing us that the material is an absolute to the design, while some were less so.  Harry Allen’s Steuben submission, ‘Sticks and Stones Bar Set’  is very clearly a concept applied to the theme of glass, contextualizing his cast bones and stones strongly by title and forms that are metaphorically contradictory with glass.  The casting process has been very consistent in Allen’s work with his Reality series based around the idea that we should only use existing form. For Steuben he has used this interest in realistic forms to further this conceptual plane with the asset of Steuben’s flawless production of crystal clear casting and glass craft.

Adversely Lara Knutson’s interests stem from material qualities. Her work (below), titled Soft Glass, is made of woven reflective glass fiber which creates rainbows on the contours of the piece, magnifying light 100 times due to 50,000 mircroscopic mirror backed glass beads in every square inch of the fabric. This fiber was woven into a what may be a traditional vessel form which is wonderfully slumped and scalloped because of the inherent material qualities.

Breakable Opening

LARA KNUTSON: SOFT GLASS2010reflective glass fabric, steel wire9"x18" round and flexible 9' h. x 18" diameter/ flexible

Detail

L: HARRY ALLEN with STEUBEN: STICKS AND STONES BAR SET 2010 R: ZAC WEINBERG KOZZIES (ANIMAL STEMS) 2010 glass11 3/4 X 4 X 4 in. (29.85 X 10.16 X 10.16 cm) Photos from Heller Gallery 2010

Title

By design there were also many applications of glass elements in the realms of furniture and jewelry. Matthew Bradshaw and Sergio Silva take advantage of the material structurally, contrasting and combining it with bamboo- arguably two materials that are not perceived as strong but used together to create stunning furniture that is both airy and strong.  Annie Lenon uses the ever-nostalgic glass cloche as an aid in her jewelry in order to preserve and hold private relics on your hand for display. The glass form in this instance is more of a referential tool, reminding us of the encyclopedic antiquities of the Wunderkammer.

ANNIE LENON: CLOCHE RING2010glass/silver1-1/2" and 2-1/2" long : Photo from Heller Gallery 2010

ERICA ROSENFELD: TIME CAPSULES 2010glass6 1/4 X 6 X 6 in. (15.88 X 15.24 X 15.24 cm)

MELISSA GAMWELL: ALICE LENS 2010 glass/silver/brushed gold silver lustre6 X 7 X 3 1/2 in. (15.24 X 17.78 X 8.89 cm)1 1/2"d. x 36" chain

MELISSA GAMWELL: ALICE LENS 2010glass/silver/brushed gold silver lustre6 X 7 X 3 1/2 in. (15.24 X 17.78 X 8.89 cm)1 1/2"d. x 36" chain

DYLAN PALMERSEALED AIR2008glass/mixed media10 X 12 X 19 in. (25.4 X 30.48 X 48.26 cm)

MATT BRADSHAW + SERGIO SILVA: L: SMALL BOWL 2010 glass 5 X 7 X 2 in. (12.7 X 17.78 X 5.08 cm) 389-0049 R:GLASS SHELVES 2010 glass/wood 92 X 40 X 12 in. (233.68 X 101.6 X 30.48 cm) Photos from Heller Gallery 2010

MATT BRADSHAW + SERGIO SILVALARGE BOWL2010glass14 X 11 X 7 1/2 in. (35.56 X 27.94 X 19.05 cm)

Designers L-R: Jude Heslin-di Leo, Jonathan Lee, Samuel Cochran, Bernardo Guillermo, Matthew Bradshaw

AO MONTEROSSO: WINE GOBLETS (set of four with funnel) 2010 blown glass/bendy straws7" high x 3" diameter

LINDSEY ADELMAN: WITH NANCY CALLAN CLUSTER CHANDELIER 2010 glass/lighting fixture 33 X 16 X 16 in. (83.82 X 40.64 X 40.64 cm) Photos from Heller Gallery 2010

L: JEFF DUNDAS / SUPERNATURAL & Co. CEIIINOSSSSTTUU 2010 glass 15 X 15 X 15 in. (38.1 X 38.1 X 38.1 cm) R: SARA MUSSELMAN WISHGLASSES 2010 glass 10 X 7 X 3 in. (25.4 X 17.78 X 7.62 cm) Photos from Heller Gallery 2010

This week in London the RCA Show One has opened with the graduate work from the Schools of Applied Arts so the upcoming post will cover some of their glass work for contrast.  The Breakable show presented 29 designers who are not all shown here but I strongly encourage a look at the Heller Gallery website to see the full exhibition.