It was a busy weekend at GlassLab on Governors Island, with design sessions featuring Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller, Chris and Dominic Leong, Leon Ransmeier, Jon Otis, and Judy Smilow.
Unfortunately, we can’t say that the third weekend of GlassLab on Governors Island went off without a hitch! Designers Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller came to GlassLab with a new idea for a common trailer ball hitch. The concept was to take something strong and industrial and make it out of glass, a material often perceived to be fragile.
The first section of the hitch was made on Saturday, and the two came prepared with a wooden mold shaped with the ball to make the second half of the hitch on Sunday.
Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller make a glass trailer ball hitch at GlassLab
Chris and Dominic Leong returned for a second GlassLab design session, adding color to their design concepts. In their first GlassLab design session, Chris and Dominic explored geometric shapes in glass vessels.
Chris and Dominic Leong with geometric glass shapes
Leon Ransmeier continued his series of glass pitchers.
Leon Ransmeier continued his series of glass pitchers at GlassLab on Governors Island
Designer Jon Otis’ concept was a fusion of wood and glass. The glassblowers pushed hot glass into wooden blocks made by Jon, resulting in unique interactions.
Glass is blown into a wooden mold for Jon Otis' design concept
Hot glass and combustible materials do not often mix well together, and Jon was open to the variety of forms that could result from the fusing of burning wood and molten glass. Judy Smilow’s design concept incorporated copper wire frames wrapped around hot glass, in the form of bowls. Read more about the designer’s concepts and see photos from past Governors Island GlassLab design sessions at http://www.cmog.org/glasslab/designers.
See the full GlassLab on Governors Island schedule for upcoming designer sessions with Peter Buchanan-Smith, Inna Alesina, Paul Sahre, Abbott Miller, David Weeks, and Georgie Stout.