Tracy Glover's Mouth-Blown Glass

by CH Contributor

by Tisha Leung

Tracy Glover's mouth-blown glass works illuminate vivid swirling patterns evocative of Pucci patterns. Working out of an old textile mill in Cranston, Rhode Island, Glover follows typical Venetian glassblowing techniques first learned while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, crafting her skill into into custom-made lighting, vases, doorknobs and drawer pulls.

Glover's ability and utilization of the A Canne (striping) and Primavera (bubbling) effects are a result of her time spent working at a Belgian convent’s crystal factory and by observing Italian masters at Dale Chihuly’s Pilchuck School of Glass in Seattle.

Notable pieces in her collection are the Prospect Hill door knobs and pulls (pictured above) and the Cairn inverted ceiling lamps (pictured after the jump). All of her work is made to order, and comes in a variety of colorways, patterns and styles. See the Tracy Glover website for a full look at her collection.

More images after the jump.

Smoked Volume 1

by CH Contributor

by Warren Rubin

Nearly a year old, Smoked Volume 1 is still a platform for the importance of pipe blowing within the glass blowing industry. Connecting pipe blowers to a broader audience, the book aims to highlight how pipe blowing pushes the boundaries of the art form, testing the medium's limitations whenever possible and placing it as a driving force among glass art and sculpture.

An open invitation to glass pipe blowers around the world, Smoked Volume 1 is a result of their best work, submitted specifically for the book, with the intent not to reveal or sell the work before the book's release.

Published by Grit City Inc., the 160-page full color book has been printed with the highest quality inks and paper, containing over 100 beautiful full-color photographs and interviews with each artist.

Many artists feel a negative sentiment toward the art of pipe blowing, but Smoked Volume 1 reverses that stigma by expressing the creativity and innovation behind the craft. Often glass art was hidden in studios and garages until word traveled to a collector, who absorbed the art into a private collection.

Adding a new element to glass blowing, in the year 2000 artists began to move away from soda-lime glass in favor of borosilicate, which melts at a much higher temperature due to its low thermal expansion coefficient, leading to a reduced risk of breakage and allowing the artists to work on small sections of a large piece without the entire item being heated. "Truly, borosilicate isn't even a revolution; it's a tsunami, and the 30 artists featured in this book aren't riding the wave, they caused the quake," states Henry Grimmett, co-owner of Glass Alchemy, Ltd.

Combined with a wide array of new colors and palates, the glass pipe movement has changed dramatically in ten years time. With so much to the industry, Grit City Inc. is working on making another edition, Smoked Volume 2, which will consist of over 200 pages of beautiful in-depth color photographs.

The book is available for purchase from Grit City Inc. for $25. See more images after the jump.

Maison Martin Margiela Book

by CH Contributor

by Anna Carnick

Adding fuel to an already fiery mystique, Maison Martin Margiela lifts just a corner of the veil surrounding the enigmatic fashion icon in the self-titled book published by Rizzoli.

Often referred to as the seventh member of the Antwerp Six, Margiela’s famous for a high fashion oeuvre characterized by an overwhelmingly subversive beauty including daring deconstruction, non-traditional fabrics, oversized proportions and provocative reinterpretations of classics. Writing to Margiela in the book’s introductory essay, Jean Paul Gaultier—for whom Margiela worked for three years early on in his career—remarks “For 20 years already, you’ve been methodically dissecting the garments with a scalpel to extract the ‘substance from the marrow’ and reinvent them.”

Margiela is also widely known for eschewing the spotlight, a highly unusual move in the world of fashion, and one that feeds into his cult-like following. Photos of the founder are rare, as are face-to-face or even phone interviews—most journalists are simply fortunate to communicate with him via fax.

Designed by Margiela himself, the book features hundreds of images pulled from his personal archives, many never before seen, depicting shows, exhibitions, editorials and more. From his first jacket to the atelier’s 20th anniversary show, the spirit of Margiela shines throughout. Essays by international design stars, including the likes of Gaultier and Vanessa Beecroft, appear as mini booklets throughout the 300+ page collection, all wrapped in a white embroidered fabric cover.

For years it seemed enough to let the clothes—and, in the last few years, also jewelry and home décor—speak for themselves. With this collection, Margiela offers us a few new pieces of the puzzle. An intimate look at one of the most secretive houses in fashion, what comes through clearest is a life passionately dedicated to pushing the limits of his art.

Released today, Maison Martin Margiela is available now from Amazon.

Grifted Boutique

by CH Contributor

by Ashley Eldridge

Stuffed Mao Zedong dolls and candy wrapper curtains beckon from the windows of the Grifted shop on Beijing's famed Nanluoguxiang. Inside, irreverence reigns. Barack Obama, decked out in a Superman suit (all the more fitting post-Nobel), nestles up against Fidel Castro and miniscule Napoleon dolls. (The little dictator doesn't come full-size.) Bedazzled Buddhas and reindeer pandas dot pre-cut squares of wrapping paper. If Warhol-style prints have been done to death in the West, in Beijing they're leading the new wave.

PP, the shop's graphic designer and co-owner, a former New Yorker displaced to Beijing a few years ago for her husband's job, stumbled upon the original shopfront back in 2007 and bought it without a clue as to what she would do with the space. Eager to return to her sculpting roots, she lined up a team of local craftspeople and began sketching designs. And in a typically Chinese twist of fate—business cards gone Chinglish—Grifted was born.

"Gifted was so Hallmark-y - too clean, too nice for us. We needed something more edgy, so what began as an accident ended up working out really well for us," says PP. Grifted's affordable, Technicolor designs made an instant splash among the traditional clay teapots and silk qipao found in every other shop in the alley. Stores in Rome and London's Saatchi Saatchi Gallery in London now carry PP's designs. Nationalistic requests come with the international locations.

"People keep asking us to do a Sarkozy or a Berlusconi," says PP, who has plans to expand the line indefinitely. Carla Bruni might look fetching in violet plush, but Gordon Brown is probably best left in the flesh.

Prices range between about $1.20 for a square of wrapping paper to $17 for large dolls. Umbrellas, pillows, and select other items are available in-store only.

Grifted
32 Nanluoguxiang
Beijing, China map

See more images after the jump.

Shwood Sunglasses: The Govy

by CH Contributor

by Adrienne So

Shwood, the new Portland label making classic frames out of wood, recently launched their latest model, the Govy (pictured above). Refining the retro looks of the Canby (below), their first pair, this new edition has a lighter, slimmer silhouette and comes in zebrawood.

The Canby, which debuted in July 2009, is available in zebrawood, maple or wenge (a dark tropical hardwood).

Each sustainable, handmade frame features 100% Carl Zeiss Italian lenses and sells for $95, while the polarized models go for $115. You can order online at Shwood .