TRANSPARENT CAGE BOTTLE

by GALA FERNANDEZ, Mexico City, 2014

MATERIAL: Handblown glass, bird cage as mold
SIZE: H 40 x D 28 cm // H 15.74 x D 11.02 in

CRAFTSMANSHIP / PRODUCTION: by the skilled craftsmen with the glass knowhow of acclaimed glass company Nouvel Studio, Mexico City

This glass object or vase, originates from a glass-blowing project, OUT OF THE CAGE, by Gala Fernandez, realised with the skilled glass-blowers of acclaimed glass manufacturer NOUVEL Studio in México City. The colour and crystal quality of the glass are remarkable and highly rated. The liquid glass is blown into various everyday objects from Mexican markets and birdcages serving as the moulds for this process. Once the housings for colorful birds, the cages have transcended into objects, vessels and containers, where new life has literally been blown into them. Now they hold the colorful glass, reminiscent of the birds themselves. The objects are a result of the interaction of the hot fluid glass with the molds: the final pieces carrying the marks and history of both their former existences. The project questions the status of confinement versus refuge. A cage can be conceived as imprisonment or a shelter for comfort. The glass works subtly capture this essence of limitation, protection and custody in a very imaginative fashion.

Distinctive glass company Nouvel Studio is famous for its high quality coloured and crystal-like glass. The firm - under the direction of creative visionary Michael Kramer - has done unprecedented work in collaborating with the most prolific established and emerging mexican architects, designers and artists. There are very high artisanal and craft skills required to blow those pieces. The metal and the glass have a different heat and cool-down performance which creates a friction that can easily result in the breaking of the glass during the process.