Glass Furniture

2023 Author: Douglas Hoggarth | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:23

Glass furniture has recently become more and more fashionable and prestigious. Glass is an environmentally friendly, natural material that does not impede the access of light to the room, making the interior more "transparent", light and refined. Its use is one of the techniques allowing to declare the modernity of the interior.

Nowadays, glass is used to decorate most rooms, regardless of their intended purpose. Mirrored ceilings and walls, elegant coffee tables and bureaus, fragile bar counters and solid kitchen countertops, interior doors and internal partitions, transparent wardrobes and dressers, transparent shelves, coasters, bookcases, cabinets and even glass chairs and armchairs - all this has become an integral part of the design. Moreover, if until today it was only an auxiliary material, now an equipment rack, shelf, table or cabinet can be completely made of glass!

This material carries so many meanings that the simplest forms in glass embodiment acquire a special meaning and beauty. Glass has the magical property of expanding space and refracting streams of light. In addition, it can be combined with other materials. For example, sheer countertops go well with wrought iron and wicker bases, as well as fancifully curved or carved wooden legs. Some Italian collections combine glass with leather. Particularly popular are combinations with polished aluminum, gilded bronze, molded metal figurines of elephants, lions, and strange birds.

To create furniture structures, glass plates are used, the thickness of which is at least 8 mm. The thicker the glass, the more expensive the finished product. Glass, although it is among the brittle materials, has great resistance - for example, a sheet measuring one meter by one meter and 15 mm thick can withstand a load of 100 kg.

The choice of material and technology depends on the functional purpose of the furniture and its aesthetic load. As a rule, furniture glass undergoes additional processing (tempered, triplex, and sometimes armored).

Modern technologies for working with glass (gluing, fusing), as well as methods of processing edges and surfaces, make it possible to make almost any piece of furniture out of it. There are a great variety of surface treatment options: glass can remain transparent, it can be matte, with a spray effect or decorated with a pattern or pattern. The most common finishing methods are: curly processing of the edge of the glass (edge bevelling), giving a matte effect, dusting (sandblasting the surface), and of course, art stained glass. A fashionable trend has become the use of "crash" - technology that creates the effect of broken, cracked glass.

Glass is one of the most relevant materials for high-tech style, with its minimalism and clear lines. But modern processing technologies make it possible to experiment with glass, creating plastic compositions that evoke associations with the classical eras of Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau. Today designers claim that transparent furniture designs can fit into any style.

An illustrative example of this is the Italian factory FIAM. Its designers and technologists have developed such a technology for producing glass of any desired thickness and shape, which makes it possible to realize the most violent fantasies. Within the walls of the company, special furnaces have been developed and manufactured, allowing you to create furniture from bent (fused) crystal glass. The exquisite design work embodied in these unpredictable three-dimensional structures has brought FIAM worldwide fame. The more the production technology developed, the more complex and refined the forms of products became.

Among the firm's undoubted design finds is the Esse screen made of frosted glass. This object, originally intended to serve as a barrier, is at the same time translucent, provoking prying eyes.

In 1987, a real creative discovery takes place - FIAM creates the glass chair Ghost. This model demonstrates the ability of the company's specialists to transform the sharp lines of glass into the soft and smooth outlines of objects made from it. A ghost chair - as if non-existent, deceiving, meanwhile, capable of withstanding even a very obese person.

Shell table. 15mm polished crystal table top, hand finished. It is supported by five fan-bent crystal plates.

Mensole shelves. Curved glass and lacquered metal.

Elegant serving table Incontro.

Another well-known Italian company that produces glass furniture, TONELLI, uses not bent, but cast cut glass to create its models. In 1987, an unusual experiment was carried out: two sheets of glass were joined end to end and thus formed a stable spatial form - a table, and after joining the sheets remained transparent at the junction. Previously, glass was subjected to high temperatures or metal inserts were used to connect individual sheets. By discovering a way to join glass plates without the use of any additional materials, the TONELLI factory has presented designers with almost limitless possibilities to bring the most fantastic ideas to life.

TONELLI specialists often use a combination of several types of materials in their products. For example, a combination of glass and quilted leather in white and black is used to create a chaise lounge. This model consists of two transparent panels, between which a kind of leather hammock is stretched. In the collection of the factory, there are several options for the execution of chests of drawers using wooden decorations. Such designs will be the perfect complement to a country-style interior. Metal is often used to create tables with a glass base. They successfully combine elements of colored glass with transparent glass.

Drake table. The reflections and reflections of the red glass countertop change the look of the interior throughout the day.

Accademia zigzag bookshelf.

Stellare coffee table with glass wheel legs.

REFLEX has come up with the Velox table. The lightest design resembles soap bubbles, dandelions, the ghost of a tricycle.

It is rather difficult to talk about the price of glass furniture. The fact is that the production of high-quality products from such a complex material in processing as glass is possible only with the use of high-tech equipment. And it is not cheap, which, of course, cannot but affect the final cost of the structure. In addition, most of the models are executed in limited quantities, or even in a single copy. Such exclusive things - projects of famous designers - are affordable only for very wealthy people.

So, the cheapest FIAM coffee table will cost 600 euros, the minimum price for a dining table is almost 2000 euros. The buyer of the famous Ghost chair will have to shell out 3300 euros. A wall-mounted CD stand starts from 320 euros and a floor stand starts from 740 euros. The cost of TONELLI shelving units with a height of 100 cm ranges from 800-1600 euros. Tall shelves and lockers from the same company can be purchased at prices ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 euros. There are a number of companies in the assortment of which glass furniture, not being the main line of production, is represented quite widely. For example, the DRAENERT factory (Germany), the hallmark of which has become luxurious transforming tables, which can be both magazine (1500-3000 euros) and dining (3500-7000 euros).

Russian firms are also gradually gaining experience in working with glass, mastering modern technologies and equipment for its cutting and processing, and are engaged in independent production of glass furniture. The prices here are several times less - you can find models even for $ 100.