Feb

Best of Milan Design Week 2019 | Melted furniture by Nendo

Milan Design Week 2020 is almost around the corner and we’re already looking forward to the event that makes this city go round. To get your hype started for this event we have brought you the best of 2019 | Melted furniture by Nendo.

Oki Sato, the founder of Nendo, designed a series of cast glass chairs for Venetian brand WonderGlass.

This unusual set of objects known as the Melt collection features a chair comprised of an inverted arched base topped with a contrasting, flat pane of glass, and backed with a larger rectangle of glass. Some first images have been released of this piece of furniture and it’s indeed unusual yet astonishing.

Take a moment to enjoy some of the highlights of Milan Design Week 2019

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This new collection comprises a total of dozen pieces of furniture all formed by gravity over a pipe or mould. Among this glass collection, we can find an armchair, one chaise longue, a dining table, a side table, one partition, and even one vase.

The designer has stated that the main idea behind the conception of these glass figures (that you’ll be able to see for yourself at Milan Design Week) was to let the glass to control the design process. Specifically, the designer let the glass flow by way of gravity as well as through the weight of the material.

Inside Special Collection for Salone del Mobile 2020, by Studiopepe

To create the glass chair, for example, first, it was necessary to pour molten glass into a square frame, while at the same time, several craftsmen evened out the surface using iron trowels. After the glass cooled, it was then placed onto a U-shaped mold where it formed an arch through the help of the craftsmen who used tools to help the shape of that arch and make sure there were no bends or cracks. Sato himself made this comment about the project set to be shown at Milan Design Week 2019.

“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.”

These pieces of furniture were presented for the first time at this year’s IMM Cologne trade show. WonderGlass is also set to be at Milan Design Week 2019 to show this new concept.