Dezeen Magazine

Glas Italia enlists prominent designers to create glass furniture for 2016 collection

Milan 2016Glas Italia's 2016 range of glass furniture features pieces from designers including Tokujin Yoshioka, Nendo, and Philippe Starck, who designed a table with mouth-blown borosilicate legs.

Prism by Tokujin Yoshioka
Prism by Tokujin Yoshioka

Glas Italia contributed to the growing trend for coloured glass furniture in Milan this year, adding to products from its range last year such as frosted glass tables with coloured edges by Nendo and a series of iridescent furniture by Patricia Urquiola.

Prism by Tokujin Yoshioka
Prism by Tokujin Yoshioka

As part of the trend, Urquiola also showed a cabinet with stained glass doors, while Ini Archibong presented tables with coloured, blown-glass legs.

Layers by Nendo
Layers by Nendo

Glas Italia's launches this year are based around the concept of illusion; using glass that is mirrored, coloured and moulded to play with the senses.

Layers by Nendo
Layers by Nendo

Prism, a mirrored dividing screen by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, is one of the stand out pieces from the 2016 collection.

Sherazade by Piero Lissoni
Sherazade by Piero Lissoni

A hand-curved surface is peppered with imperfections, ripples and curves that create distorted, mirage-like reflections.

Sherazade by Piero Lissoni
Sherazade by Piero Lissoni

Adding again to the collection, Tokyo studio Nendo has created the Layers bookshelf which features hanging panels of coloured glass.

Different panes can be moved so they overlap, combining colours to create a shifting, patterned composition.

Commodore by Piero Lissoni
Commodore by Piero Lissoni

Italian designer Piero Lissoni has created two items for the series. Sherazade is a glass door that is embedded with cloth-like patterning to provide privacy.

Commodore by Piero Lissoni
Commodore by Piero Lissoni

He has also made a set of storage cabinets, called Commodore. The units are panelled in ridged or chequered glass which distorts the view of the inside.

Narcissus by Naoto Fukasawa
Narcissus by Naoto Fukasawa

Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa has contributed Narcissus, named after the hunter from Greek Mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.

Narcissus by Naoto Fukasawa
Narcissus by Naoto Fukasawa

In the piece two mirrored panes are separated by a distorted glass cylinder that is meant to resemble flowing liquid. The table gets its name from the reflections that play between the two surfaces.

Nesting by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
Nesting by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

French duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have made a table for the range which has with a thick glass top.

Nesting by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
Nesting by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Both the colours of the top and the legs can be individually chosen. The solid top is then poured around the legs "welding" the piece together.

Lady Hio by Philippe Starck and Sergio Schito
Lady Hio by Philippe Starck and Sergio Schito

French designer Phillipe Starck worked with Paris-based Sergio Schito, to also create a table with glass in customisable colours.

Lady Hio by Philippe Starck and Sergio Schito
Lady Hio by Philippe Starck and Sergio Schito

The tapered table-top sits on delicate-looking legs, which are made out of mouth-blown borosilicate glass – a lightweight type of glass typically used in laboratories.

Collector by Barber Osgerby
Collector by Barber Osgerby

Additionally London duo Barber Osgerby have made a larger storage cabinet for their series called Collector. The cabinet has rounded glass corners and sits of a black, tapering plinth of ash wood.

Collector by Barber Osgerby
Collector by Barber Osgerby

Urquiola has also contributed new pieces to her Shimmer collection with frosted versions of the previous tables and mirrors.

Shimmer by Patricia Urquiola
Shimmer by Patricia Urquiola

Other furniture collections released during this year's Milan design week, which took place from 12 to 17 April 2016, include a set of architect-designed pieces that features a shelving system by the late Zaha Hadid. Italian brand Magis also lunched a furniture and accessories range to celebrate its 40th anniversary.