Capturing Light

Well before he was old enough to drink, Leon Jakimič knew all about wine glasses, whisky tumblers and champagne flutes. Both of his parents worked in the Czech glassware industry, the centre of which lay in Liberec in North Bohemia, where he was born. While sport may have been Jakimič’s first love — he had ambitions to become the world’s greatest tennis player — glass was the obvious alternative when injuries curtailed that career.

Fresh out of university, Jakimič found employment at a Czech glassmaking company, where he learnt a lot but struggled to find meaning in his work. The role did, however, take him to Hong Kong; it was here that he decided, in 2007 and after eight years with the company, to found Lasvit. His aim was to share the beauty of Czech glassware, and ultimately to make Lasvit ‘ the most inspirational and successful glassmaker in the world’.

Lasvit’s work is based on Bohemia’s long tradition of glassmaking, and while the company is headquartered in Hong Kong, the Czech region is home to its glass production facilities. ‘I always knew there was strong design talent, strong craftsmanship and a decent technological background,’ says Jakimič of the region; it was this that gave him the confidence to go out on his own.

Now, just 11 years later, Lasvit has made its mark on the design world through striving for what Jakimič explains as art: ‘Something unique, something that’s hard to replicate, something based on challenging craftsmanship that’s beautifully designed, with a strong story to tell and a certain playfulness.’

In April 2018 the company won the coveted Milano Design Award for its Monster Cabaret show at Salone del Mobile in Milan, which introduced a series of ‘Monsters’ sculptures by selected renowned artists and designers. Lasvit asked them to imagine monsters in glass, exploring their inner fears and hidden demons through the work. The hope was that by realising these creatively they could free themselves, and perhaps those who interact with the works could do the same. ‘Ironically, we could make the world a more peaceful place through monsters,’ says Jakimič.

The Monsters have become one of Lasvit’s collections, which also include lighting, decor and dining pieces created in collaboration with leading designers. The other side of the business — currently 90 per cent of it, though Jakimič hopes to balance this out — revolves around bespoke pieces, crafted in-house. It’s here, amid large installations, that Lasvit creates trophies, including those for the Tour de France and a number of tennis tournaments, which allows Jakimič to maintain a connection with the sporting world and to create artistic trophies he hopes will be heirlooms.

Adding to this, winners of the inaugural Design Anthology Awards will each take home their own glass trophy designed by Lasvit. ‘The trophies showcase the optical play of light and shadows,’ says designer Monika Kořínková. Indeed, light is key to glass, Jakimič adds. ‘Glass without the right light is dead.’ He continues, ‘I think of glass as a material that can capture light and store it. Light is a beautiful material, and through glass, we can add it to people’s lives and make them happier.’