Hearthwood Glasses

The artistic lure of a couple of glass cups in the bar cabinet.

Glass. It's in our windows, our screens, our kitchens, our cars. We are not supposed to notice it; we are supposed to see through it, with our attention directed towards what lies beyond it. Landscapes, WhatsApps, wine, the road. It is a very practical and functional way of making our lives less opaque. Lighter.

But what if glass could be all that and art too? What if there were glass cups that could hold our drinks and, at the same time, make us look at it, admire it on its own aesthetic merit? Well, there is.

From Caldas da Rainha (Estremadura, Portugal), product designer Samuel Reis works with a team of master glassmakers to elevate a millennia-old craft to contemporary art. For these pieces, Samuel finds logs that are already hollow, without their core (cerne), cuts them, and transforms them into natural molds. Then, the glass is blown inside, and nature takes care of the rest.

Nature, not function, is the root of his creative process.