Nendo & WonderGlass Present Melt Collection at Milan Design Week 2019

February 23, 2019

WonderGlass’ new stunning furniture collection, entitled Melt, has been designed by Oki Sato, principal of design studio, Nendo. The collection debuted at the 25hours Hotel The Circle in Germany and now it will be once again showcased at the beloved Milan Design Week. The furniture series is comprised of cast glass chairs that highlight U-shaped base formed by the effects of gravity on molten glass. Now, Best Design Events explores this fantastic new collection, so take a look.

The chairs in the Melt Collection have an inverted arched base that is topped with a contrasting flat pane of glass and backed with a larger rectangle of glass. Besides the chairs, the collection is further complemented by a dozen pieces of furniture designs, from a chaise lounge to a dining table, a side table, among other pieces that are all formed by gravity over a pipe or mould.

After watching the traditional way that the artisans of WonderGlass crafted molten glass in their workshop, Oki Sato was inspired to create Melt. The main purpose of this collection was to design pieces where the glass becomes the protagonist and controls the process, letting it flow by the way of gravity and the weight of the material.

For example, to create the chair, first molten glass was poured into a square frame while several craftsmen simultaneously evened out the surface using iron trowels. The glass gradually cooled and, once it reached a certain pliancy, was moved and placed onto a U-shaped mould, allowing the glass to slowly sink or stretch around the mould to form an arch.

It was through this process that the collection got its name, Melt. The draped forms of each furniture design occur as a result of the molten liquid nature of the glass. While glass may be an unusual material to use when designing furniture, Maurizio and Christian Mussati, founders of WonderGlass wanted to “push the boundaries and capabilities of cast glass.”

“I think flat surface glass stretched by the hands of craftsmen is beautiful. I discovered the beauty of glass when I saw that the plate-like glass created a beautiful arch by its own weight, when lifted by a number of craftsmen.” – Oki Sato