‘Chromo’ table lamps
‘Chromo’ table lamps, by Mut and Preciosa
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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.com
‘We designed objects inspired by a belief in the healing powers of light in combination with red, blue, green and yellow’