Garnier & Linker: Diatomée Vases

The Paris based, French creators Guillaume Garnier and Florent Linker form Garnier & Linker. With a focus on rare materials and know-how, their work centers around contemporary design. The duo draws inspiration from decorative arts, such as sculptures, to develop objects with pure shapes that reveal the material in its depth. With their background in interior architecture, they conceive functional objects that meet the contemporary interiors of enlightened collectors who seek art and design collectibles with a soul. Each of their creations is believed to be customizable by architects and decorators based on the needs of their project.

The duo created two singular collections for TLmag’s sister gallery Spazio Nobile Gallery in Brussels: the Parisis lamps and the Diatomée vases. The lamps are created from plaster and alabaster which makes for a slightly translucent look. The molten glass Diatomée Sculpted Vases appear like single-celled algae that live in houses made of glass. Indeed, the inspiration for these light-absorbing molecules- which are the only organism on the planet with cell walls composed of transparent called opaline silica. On earth, diatoms are bringing us up to 50% of our oxygen and also feed the oceans, lakes, and rivers. The alabaster stone filters light to gently illuminate a host of colors and veins which have been formed over thousands of years by the weather and land it comes from. Garnier & Linker and Spazio Nobile have experimented with this fascinating lost-wax casting technique mastered by French glassmaker Olivier Fonderflick with 12 crystal colors: light blue, light pink, light green, clear transparent, violin grey, purple, lime, citrin, electric blue, dark grey, nearly black and cognac/amber. These are available on different platforms, including Spazio Nobile Gallery’s online presence.