The Shaping Colour series by Amsterdam-based designer Germans Ermičs is the realisation of a more than 2 year long research project into colour and the intriguing design material of glass.

Glass, making up a large part of our surroundings, is used widely in architecture, interior and furniture design. Sometimes viewed as cold, flat and comfortless, this designer seeks to challenge this material perception through his work by adding softness, depth and colour detailing to this rather everday material. Through experimentation with various glass layering and printing technologies to add delicate gradients of colour, the Shaping Colour series resulted in unexpected and inspiring coloured glass results.

“Instead of finishing a product by painting it. I started from colour. By initiating a dialogue between shape and colour, I aim to unhinge the traditional roles in what defines a product,” explains Ermičs. Conventionally, colour acts as the outer layer of a product. Its sole purpose is decorative and determined by the object’s shape. Shaping Colour takes its departure by unhinging this hierarchy. The work can be seen as a visual investigation into the relationship between colour and shape and the ways in which they influence an object.

Germans Ermičs is a Latvian-born designer who graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2011. Prior to graduation, Ermičs  completed an intership at Studio Robert Stadler in Paris, in September 2014, Ermics started a studio in Amsterdam, which a subject of fascination: glass and mirrors. Colours take on an important role in this designer’s works, to the point where the materials they’re applied to either seem more exciting than they ever have before – or disappear entirely from the viewer’s consciousness. Ermičs also often employs grahic design backgrounds to add a new and fresh approach to the designs and push  the boundaries of materials and perceptions of space.