michelle kaufmann designs

I love double function in any form. Nikolas Weinstein, glass artist/guru and friend, had a fantastic party last week that featured double function in a very interesting way. He threw the party to celebrate the shipping of his latest creation: a stunning series of chandeliers destined for an installation in a Singapore hotel designed by Noman Foster and opening March 2009. The piece will frame the hotel’s ballroom, the first in Singapore to feature a circular glass-dome skylight. Nikolas’ marvelous custom-designed circular glass sculpture will float from the dome’s center and echo the round collar of the skylight under which it sits.

The series of chandeliers is composed of approximately 10,000 clear glass tubes and glass caps, a series of cables and wires, allowing Nikolas a way to be exact in making the physical design match his earlier mock-ups and studies that he digitized into the computer. It also creates the flexibility to fine-tune the pieces once they are installed on site. Designed to play with the room’s natural light source, the sculpture’s transparency during daytime’s backlight is meant to offer a complement to the room’s architecture. During the evening, when the piece is illuminated from beneath, the sculpture will reflect and refract light, causing it to shimmer as guests move within the ballroom.

Nikolas and I met many years ago, when I was working for Frank Gehry. I was the project architect for the Conde Nast cafeteria and Nikolas was designing some amazing glass chandeliers for the private dining rooms. At the time he had also just completed a stunning assembly of work at Pariser Platz for DZ Bank in Berlin, Germany.

Me and Nikolas

I have always been blown away by Nikolas’ work and find that his glass “objects” are the perfect gift for every occasion.  So I am always excited to see what he is up to. Right now he has a series of pretty exciting projects under works; he’s doing some pretty amazing things with slumped fused glass tubes. One of his techniques involves turning glass into frozen liquid – very sensual, very organic, very moving.

Ah, yes, back to the double function. During the actual party, which took place at the Nikolas Weinstein studio, they were not only using the kilns to demonstrate glass work in real time but also to bake up pizzas all night long.

It is hard to say what was more tasty, the food or the glass. Well, actually it’s not really that hard; while the toasty, cheesy treats coming out of the kiln were quite delicious, the glass designs were definitely the most scrumptious item at the party.