zech design has come a long way
in the last decade and local manufacturers
have leapt at the chance to dovetail the
country’s long tradition of craft and
industry with more contemporary visions.
The glassmakers of North Bohemia,
in particular, are embracing the newly
rich design scene. Manufacturers around
traditional centres, such as the small
towns of Nový Bor and Kamenický Šenov,
are revitalising glass production and design.
One of the largest glass factories belongs to
Preciosa, which focuses on the production of
traditional Maria Theresa-style chandeliers.
The roots of the company date back
to 1548, when glass was first produced
in the area known today as Crystal Valley.
In 1724, the first factory in Prácheň,
close to Kamenický Šenov, was established
and started to produce magnificent
chandeliers destined for Versailles and the
palaces of Russian tsars and Ottoman sultans.
Today, after years of decay during
Czechoslovakia’s years of communist rule
and post-Soviet confusion, Preciosa is again
at the top of European glass production.
Invigorating its traditional production,
the company first collaborated with top
names in contemporary Czech design,
such as Klára Šumová, Eva Eisler and
Jakub Berdych of Qubus, and later with a
series of international designers, including
the Amsterdam-based Frank Tjepkema.
For Handmade, Valencia-based studio
Mut was approached to work with the
Bohemian glassmakers to create a lighting
design. The studio came up with the
idea of the ‘Chromo’ lamp. Following the
lead of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians,
who believed in the restorative properties
of sunlight and colourful stones, the lamp
uses different combinations of coloured glass.
‘We designed modern sculptural
objects inspired by a belief in the healing
powers of light in combination with red,
blue, green and yellow,’ says Alberto Sánchez,
who founded Mut in 2010. The lamp –
which also nods to the art deco style
much favoured by Czechoslovakian glass
factories during the 1920s and 1930s – is
comprised of a metal base and a set of
curved glass pipes with two different light
sources: a neon tube hidden at the centre
of the glass pipes and an LED at the base.
The glass pipe shades come in four colours
that are interchangeable.
Sánchez, who visited the Preciosa factory
to review the prototypes, says, ‘The factory
mostly uses the technique of glass blowing,
but for this project we created the shades of
the lamps using press mould techniques.’ The
result is part kinetic art and part argument
for the therapeutic power of colour. ∂
mutdesign.com; preciosa.comC
‘We designed objects inspired by a belief in
the healing powers of light in combination
with red, blue, green and yellow’
RIGHT, EDUARDO
VILLALÓN AND
ALBERTO SANCHEZ, OF
MUT, AT THE PRECIOSA
FACTORY IN KAMENICKÝ
ŠENOV, WHERE THEY
OVERSAW THE MAKING
OF THEIR PROTOTYPE
GLASS LAMPS, BELOW∑ 109
Making Of...