International design competition for students from design-oriented and creative degree programmes

Under the competition title ‘Glass can …’, participants were called upon to highlight the special properties of glass and, where possible, to create connections with other raw materials.

Participants were able to incorporate their creativity and individuality into their designs and put the knowledge, skills and techniques they had learnt during their studies into practice. The Glass Design Award gave participants the space to explore and experiment, enabling them, amongst other things, to test the limits of what is possible.

Entries could be artistic in nature or focused on product design.

The 4th Glass Design Award offered prize money totalling 12,000 euros.

Through September 30, the Glasmanufaktur Harzkristall is presenting a special exhibition for the 4th Glass Design Award of the Gerhard Bürger Foundation.  The exhibition features 17 competition entries by students. Visitors will gain exciting insights into the future of glass design and can experience the award-winning and selected works up close. Visit the special exhibition at the Glasmanufaktur Harzkristall as part of the interactive tour “Manufaktour” and discover how glass inspires, surprises, and brings people together.

Practical experience in product development and project work

Valuable tips and help from the professionals for practical implementation in the hut

Financial support for realisation from the Gerhard Bürger Foundation

Use of the Harzkristall glassworks production facility in Derenburg (free of charge for students)

Establishing connections with product developers and in the glass scene

Combination of theory in lectures and practice in development

Attractive prize money and winnings

Utilising existing sales channels and profit sharing on sales

Structure in Flux
Julia Rhein

Berlin-Weißensee School of Art

In her artistic work, Julia Rhein explores the changing times in the Harz region. She uses the bark beetle to explore the relationship between nature, the environment and regional identity, and has developed an ensemble of beautifully shaped vessels from this concept. The feeding marks left on the bark of trees infested by the bark beetle appear as aesthetic structures within the glass. Layers of sediment from the Harz landscape and structures from the mountain tunnels, such as veining, have been translated into the glass. The colour scheme also reflects the colours of the forest. This elegant, multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach to working with the material, combined with her open-ended exploration of how we perceive nature today and the demands of sustainable resource management, demonstrates a broad spectrum of possibilities in her exploration of glass as a medium.

SHARDS

Leon Adrian Habig

Berlin-Weißensee School of Art

The starting point for the SHARDS project was the question of how glass waste from craft and design contexts could be meaningfully recycled. Based on this challenge, Leon Adrian Habig developed two complementary approaches: a circular system for producing recycled colour rods for the studio glass sector, and a minimalist, low-tech studio that transforms glass waste into new objects using glass casting. SHARDS combines materials research, experimental craftsmanship and environmental responsibility into a compelling overall concept.

Fields of Light
Hao Du

Berlin-Weißensee School of Art

As poetic as the title of the work, the light sculpture submitted by Hao Du to the ‘Glass can’ competition presents itself to the viewer. Here, glass is not merely a casing, but a medium and conductor of light. The cylindrical glass forms he has developed – varying in height and width, with rounded tops – can be aesthetically arranged into groups. The design’s reduction to three basic forms enables the mass production of a multitude of elements. At the same time, each individual object remains unique, as wall thickness, weight and shape cannot be fully controlled during the glass-making process.

Both sides of the objects are sandblasted. The light itself is controlled via a programme. The light field pulsates gently, almost seeming to breathe. The colour temperatures within the field vary slightly. It is noteworthy that the poetic character of the light sculpture is retained even when the white glass cylinders are not illuminated.

With the object he has developed, Hao Du aims to break new ground in lighting design. His light fields accentuate the space, yet are a far cry from traditional light fittings or lamps that illuminate a room evenly or in specific spots. The style of the light fields is modern and minimalist, yet at the same time timeless, aesthetic and ‘simply beautiful’.

Light Module
Linus Vogt

Weißensee-Berlin School of Art

Linus Vogt has set new standards with his experimental approach to the glass-casting process. It is particularly impressive how he manages to bring out extraordinary aesthetic qualities in the glass through the deliberate introduction of air and gas. His series makes it possible to experience permanently a moment that is often only fleetingly visible during the manufacturing process, thereby opening up new avenues for artistic work with glass.
Thanks to electrode-based technology, the resulting light modules become luminous objects in their own right, skilfully capturing another state of the glass that is often only briefly visible – that moment when the glass emerges from the furnace glowing red-hot and luminous. The warm glow of the glass, filled with noble gas, evokes the original process and creates a subtle, atmospheric lighting effect.

Glass falls
Elisa Roinisto

Aalto University Helsinki

Elisa Roinisto combines colourfully glazed porcelain in the base of an atmospheric lamp with opaque, translucent glass in its shade. Both materials are related, yet differ in terms of their light transmission. The formal design creates an impression of the two elements interlocking organically, as if they were natural, organic forms. The jury commends the sensitive handling of the materials and the quality of the formal design.

Cube
Viivi Hirvikangas

Aalto University Helsinki

Behind Viivi Hirvikangas’s colourful, cheerful-looking objects lies an in-depth exploration of the relationship between glassmakers and designers in the development process of glass designs. By handcrafting coloured elements pre-shaped over the flame, the designer takes a more active part in the working process and thus gains a greater degree of control over the result than is normally possible in such a collaboration. The geometric rigour of the form provides a counterbalance to the playfulness of the coloured elements.

Please address any enquiries to:

Felix Busch, Project Coordination Glass Design Award

039453 680 - 11

stiftung@harzkristall.de