Curious and beautiful, ‘30.0’ by artist and designer Omer Arbel is a stunning series of rectangular sculptures that explore the material potential to be found in fusing glass.
The sculptures come as the result of a fusing technique whereby the glass rods are exposed to a gradient of high temperatures within a kiln over a period of time. Under this heat, the circular profiles of the glass rods begin to fuse into multifaceted, crystalline configurations that have an eye-catching and candy-like appearance.
The rods used include a variety of different colours, opacities and diameters, resulting a stunning optical effect. You can watch a video of how these sculptures are painstakingly made here and here, as well as a video of the rods fusing in a kiln here.
Based in Vancouver and Berlin, Arbel has created a number of different works that push materials beyond their understood limits.
Arbel is the co-founder of Bocci, a Canadian design and manufacturing company that specialises in sculptural lighting and large installations. 30.0 is not part of of the Bocci catalogue, but rather part of Omer Arbel’s ongoing series of free explorations.