The art of gilded glass

There’s an eye-catching new vogue for designers using silvered and gilded glass to cover everything from coasters to cabinets. Leading the charge in high style is Emma Peascod, who has adapted the ancient technique of verre églomisé (reverse glass gilding) to create sumptuous surfaces by hand from her London studio.

Peascod founded the studio in 2011, shortly after spending a year ‘going back to her roots’ in Japan (her mother is Japanese), where she trained in the traditional art of washi-paper making. She now combines washi paper with verre églomisé to produce striking effects inspired by lunar landscapes and kimono silks. Each glass panel takes at least two weeks to make using gilding and up to nine layers of paint in coral and emerald hues.

In the Highlight collection of furniture and lighting, Peascod’s glass panels are simply framed in brass or wood in spare designs that reference the Bauhaus school. The Apex lamp (above) is her personal favourite.

‘I’ve always wanted to make lighting and furniture, and I love this lamp the most because of the balance of wood, glass and metal,’ she says.

A fine-art graduate from Central Saint Martins, Peascod has created various decorative pieces, such as hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper, for interior designers over the past decade. Her work can be seen at Skye Gyngell’s London restaurant Spring in Somerset House, where an art nouveau-inspired mural of giant peonies glimmers behind the bar.

Above Emma Peascod in front of her glass work Peonies at London restaurant Spring. Right The Apex lamp, from £2,950. Below The Orbit mirror, in Emerald Magma, from £1,650