Monica Singer of Vienna’s Polka design studio
October 14, 2008. Europe in the fall now offers a cornucopia of design festivals, taking place in every capital from Helsinki to Istanbul—last week it was Vienna’s turn, and I.D. was there documenting the highlights. We’ll be posting them this week, right here. First up: At Lobmeyr‘s 200-year-old headquarters in the center of town, the talented duo Polka presented a new glassware series merging the traditions of the fabled glassmaker with their own quirky style. Monica Singer explains the process in the video above, and demonstrates how the special lead-free glass Lobmeyr uses allows the ultra-thin stemware to bend slightly to resist breakage.
Also at Lobmeyr, Czech designer Maxim Velcovsky created an installation (below) using chandelier parts he found in the company’s archives, arranging them behind backlit scrims to resemble the skylines of New York, London, Moscow, Medina, and of course, in the front window of the shop, Vienna itself. viennadesignweek.at or polkaproducts.com