Crystal may be associated with the apartment of a grandmother, who had vases, vases, bowls and sugar bowls meticulously arranged on her furniture. Today, dishes made of crystal are returning to favor, but in a slightly different form. In interiors they are an accessory rather than the main attraction. The modern edition of crystal is lighter and more delicate.
Elzbieta Trzewiczek-Pietkiewicz, co-founder of the Pietkiewicz studio, proposes glass and crystal dishes that escape the tradition of rich decoration. She prefers discreet and delicate decorations. According to her, glassware no longer needs to be just for decoration - to stand on a shelf, on a crocheted napkin. The designer would like crystal glass products to enter the "home mainstream." The collection was awarded in the MUST HAVE poll during the Lodz Design Festival.
Basia Hyjek: How were these designs born?
Elzbieta Trzewiczek-Pietkiewicz: Ta-Kulkavases are an author's project, they are not in mass production. It was created under the influence of fascination with contemporary architecture. The vases have the character of simple cold glued solids, spheres and cylinders. Each is unique, I made the cuts personally.
This is a combination of hand-formed hot-glued glass spheres colored with metallurgical colored frit and colorless glass in the shape of cylinders blown into a mold
© Elzbieta Trzewiczek-Pietkiewicz
This is a combination of hand-formed hot-formed glass balls tinted with metallurgically colored frits with colorless glass in the shape of cylinders blown into a mold. Each is decorated differently and they are different heights. The grinding is "imperfect" - a nod to the handiwork of the decorators, who cannot afford such imperfections in mass production. Thanks to Sebastian Pietkiewicz, who made "these Balls"!
Basia: What was the main inspiration for them?
Elisabeth: The sphere is a naturally harmonious shape, commonly found in nature around us. A glass bubble - a sphere, a ball - offers unlimited design possibilities. It can be combined with glass of other than spherical shape. It can be deformed at will, obtaining new, often surprising forms. Finally, it is possible to apply various decorations - in glass and on glass.
Crystal glass, which is the material for our designs, strives for sphericity on its own - it does not like sharp shapes. Such a second form is the cylinder - the simplest shape for blowing in the mold.
A glassblower scoops a portion of liquid glass mass from the furnace onto a special tube, called a glassblowing tibia, and blows a bubble out of it. From this spherical bubble the objects we designed earlier are created
© Elzbieta Trzewiczek-Pietkiewicz
Basia: Please tell us about the products - what does the creative process look like?
Elzbieta: The glass blower takes a portion of liquid glass mass from the furnace onto a special tube, called a glassblowing tibia, and blows a bubble out of it. From this spherical bubble, the objects we designed earlier are created. In my glass works, I am interested in combining glass products blown by the traditional method with a polished surface. The designs are created mainly under the influence of fascination with the material I have been working with for several years, namely crystal glass. The motif I want to develop in them is a broken line, a line, duplicated, which creates a delicate ornament.
The cuts are to emphasize the shape of the products and give them character. The minimalism and contrast in the cuts, the thrifty lines that very discreetly result from the forms for which they are designed, are in their simplicity a negation of the traditional decorativeness of rich ornaments known from grandma's furniture. When we think of crystal glass, most of us are reminded of the rich, heavy and hard-to-clean wares standing on the bookshelf. In our works, we try to disenchant the role of this glass, to make it begin to be used in everyday life, as containers for cookies, or perhaps as a vase for field flowers.
In our works we try to disenchant the role of this glass, make it start to be used every day, as containers for cookies, or perhaps as a vase for wild flowers
© Elzbiet Trzewiczek-Pietkiewicz
Basia: Do you use your own creations in your homes?
Elzbieta: Yes we use our creations on a daily basis, especially utilitarian ones, such as glasses for water, beer, wine glasses and small glasses for strong liquors, spice containers, lamps - and it gives us great satisfaction!
