Spotted // Ambiente Fair

INTO THE MOULD

What is a better way of integrating nature into your home than placing glassware inspired and mold out of a tree trunk’s core into it? Product designer Samuel Reis used this ideology to create Cerne, which is Portuguese for ‘core’.

The Cerne collection consists of different kinds of glassware such as decanters, drinking glasses and vases. The glass objects obtain their interesting shape by using a technique of blowing into wooden tree trunk moulds. The trees that are being used for the process are Portuguese Carob trees which are naturally hollow inside.

The glassware is designed by Samuel Reis. He is an observer and collector of things from the natural environment who incorporates these components into his projects, such as Cerne. Samuel Reis was born in the Algarve in Portugal, the same region where the Carrob trees come from. The tree trunk cores can be used for the blowing technique for around 30 times and after that they are turned into pods for the Cerne series.

Samuel Reis is part of Vicara Design. This is a Portuguese based company that was founded in 2011 by João Marcão and Paulo Sellmayer. Their team is made up out of an interesting network of designers and local producers. They are surrounded by a group of small manufactures that value quality design and work closely together with the team. Their different backgrounds create an interesting company culture in which several industries are being woven into each other.

Not only the company culture is any interesting result of interlacing. The way Samuel Reis produces his glassware is also a result of combining the beauty of nature with a hand blowing technique and therefore creating an interesting combination between man and nature. This connects to our trend ‘Interwoven’. It allows us to appreciate the tree's natural beauty by experiencing its mold from a new perspective.

If you’d like to know more about Vicara Design or Samuel Reis then click on their names.

If you’d like to know more about the trends we created for Ambiente Fair 2020, you can download our trend book here.

Photo@ Samuelfreis.com