During the 8th edition of Venice Glass Week, Venini presented the new collections Art Glass – the I Paladini and I Paladini Celati vases – and Art Light – the Silicea, Arenaria, Nodus, Tessella, Stratis and Vestis lamps – designed by Emmanuel Babled. The collaboration between the brand and the designer has lasted over 30 years, perhaps due to a shared visionary pursuit of beauty, tradition and innovation in the art of glass.
I Paladini by Venini, design Emmanuel Babled
“In these projects,” the designer says, “I have tried to express my vision of the historic glassworks. The elegance that sets Venini apart is a natural presence, but I also wanted to emphasize the most refined expressions of the material. I Paladini and the new Celati glassware remind us of legendary symbolic busts, silent and wrapped in a mysterious veil, which allow the colors of their spirit to emerge through deep scars. In the collection of lamps, I have incorporated several distinctive features of Murano, and especially of Venini: the colors that range from transparent tones full of light to opaque elements (Silicea and Arenaria); incisions made with a diamond wheel to allow the light to reveal the different thicknesses of the glass (Stratis and Vestis); and the Murano technique of twisted threads (Nodus and Tessella).”
I Paladini by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
I Paladini Celati by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
I Paladini by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
I Paladini Celati by Venini, design Emmanuel Babled
I Paladini and I Paladini Celati, where the latter feature the use of milk glass, are all one-of-a-kind pieces: limited edition of 99 pieces for the former and 29 pieces for the latter, each with a different color composition and dated on the exact day of production.
“Glass is a treacherous material; it is not possible to tame it 100%, you have to adapt to its whims,” Babled continues. “And this is precisely its magic: you have to understand it before you can design it. In effect, glass is also a generous material, capable of offering unexpected reactions and beauty. Glass is crafted in a liquid state, and then becomes solid in less than an hour, so pauses are not allowed. Once crystallized, it becomes an eternal, immutable material, made of transparencies and reflections. What is important for its maker is to know how to trigger a process and grasp its grace, rather than trying to design it in a fixed, obligatory form.”
Arenaria by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
Stratis by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
Stratis by Venini,
design Emmanuel Babled
Babled is also conducting a project in Tanzania for WomenCraft, Kukua – “grow” in Swahili – which focuses on the promotion and development of Tanzanian crafts, above all made by women. For Kukua he has designed the Duara chair and the Mwezi lamp, presented in the group exhibition L’Afrique c’est chic! at Atelier Gustave in Paris, during Paris Design Week in September.
Mwezi, Kukua collection by WomenCraft, design Emmanuel Babled
New Collections by Venini, design Emmanuel Babled – The Venice Glass Week
“The objective of this initiative seems different from the usual activity of a brand like Venini,” Babled continues, “though in any case it involves assigning value to the decorative arts. On the one hand, in the ‘western’ countries we work with a very high level of expertise and technology to create objects of great virtuosity. On the other, we can work with our hands, and with locally sourced materials, to create simple, useful objects. In both cases, I use artisanal production to promote progress.”
The current creative research of Babled seems quite far away from his early studies in industrial design. “As an industrial designer trained in the 1980s,” he says, “I have worked on both fronts: on the one hand, with industrial products made in China and sold on the shelves of our department stores, on the other with specialized artisans, where the aim was play, managing to achieve the impossible or the unexpected. By choice and by professional ethics I have shifted more and more towards collaborations with craftspeople, full of contents and stories, with less emphasis on commerce and productivity. I believe that it is a simply a matter of finding more meaning, more happiness. It allows me to work in a benevolent way, for the pleasure of things well made, rather than things that sell well.”
Until 26 October, at Galerie Yves Gastou in Paris, the solo show Territoire, opened during Paris Design Week, traces back through 30 years of Babled’s career, marked by an emphasis on materials, which almost prevail over forms. “I’d say that it is simply a question of method, of rigor in the conception of the project,” the designer adds. “My approach takes inspiration from immersion in the places of production, well before the project takes form on paper. It is a design that tries to be inclusive, taking its cue from the imagination of the author, but driven first of all by the reality of production, which becomes a creative alphabet.”
Territoire by Emmanuel Babled – Galerie Yves Gastou, Paris – Photo © Édouard Auffray
La main des autres by Emmanuel Babled – 5 Continents Edition
“The path I follow is in a certain sense inverted with respect to that of industrial design,” Babled continues. “The latter tends to first identify a market target, after which to identify the most efficient production process with which to reach that market through a suitable product. In the case of crafts, instead, the starting point has to do with people and their abilities, with materials and their intrinsic characteristics. You work to bring out these elements and to adapt their perception, with an eye on a potential market.”
The versatile creative universe of Emmanuel Babled is illustrated in the monograph La main des autres, published by 5 Continents Editions and available from the end of September; there is also a special edition enclosed in a limited-edition work created in collaboration with Venini specifically for this project, in blown glass and wood, signed by the designer – who now lives in Lisbon.
La main des autres by Emmanuel Babled – 5 Continents Edition
“I believe that every change of places in your life is an opportunity for enrichment. After my youth in the south of France, I have lived in Milan, Paris and Amsterdam. Portugal, and Lisbon in particular, is a place where the mentality is less competitive with respect to other countries, and the central focus is an enjoyable life. The country hasn’t gone through an industrial revolution as in other places, and has passed directly into the digital age. Portugal is also a small country, with about 10 million inhabitants, but it is multi-ethnic and tolerant. It is a marginal European state, but rich in respect and connections, not only with Europe but also and above all with the rest of the world, from Brazil to Africa, all the way to Macao. I believe these contaminations make it a special place, a source of inspiration for the world. For example, after 8 years in Lisbon, I have established a presence in Tanzania. I think that all these experiences make us more aware of the world in which we live, and more capable of finding suitable solutions.”
