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Heart of Glass by ECAL: Experimenting with Glass

Heart of Glass workshops at ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne provide a hub for experimenting with glass processes and moulds.

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Design research project Heart of Glass by the ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne was initiated by the Swiss university’s Master Product Design department. In the project, students worked in close collaboration with designers and makers such as frequent Glass Is Tomorrow blower Matteo Gonet.

Over the course of multiple workshops, Gonet revealed the strength of committed work, both in experimentation and production. What interests him the most is the wealth of experience that emerges from an ongoing process, either mouth or mould blown. Mould Machine was one of the workshops he co-organized with ECAL, during which both partners re-evaluated a lost wax technique; producing object negatives and employing modern technologies: refractory materials, 3D printers and milling machines. •

Heart of Glass workshops ran at ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne between 2012 and 2014.

Images
Heart of Glass, ECAL. Copyright Axel Crettenand / ECAL.

Glass Is Tomorrow is a European network, which aims at establishing more fluid exchange of knowledge and competencies between glass and design professionals in the north, south, east and west of Europe. Glass Is Tomorrow is initiated and organized by Brussels-based creative agency Pro Materia, which also publishes TLmagazine with Paris-based publishing house Bookstorming.

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