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Danish jeweller Sophie Bille Brahe is recalling her visit earlier this year to Murano, the small island off Venice, to work on her new collection of glassware. “You start very early in the morning, because otherwise it gets too hot to work later; you get the boat from Venice and the water is all sparkly – like shiny glass,” she says. “Then when you’re in the workshop, it’s really loud because the ovens whir, and the heat is overwhelming – like being in a furnace. But even though it’s an industrial place, it’s still Italian, so the warehouses are pretty.”
This is the second time Bille Brahe has worked with artisans in Murano to create a range of vases and other glass objets, as an extension of the jewellery business she founded in 2011. “I spend quite a lot of energy trying to create a universe around the jewellery, and for me the glassware is part of that,” she says, surrounded by various prototypes in her Copenhagen office. “I wanted to take a few elements from what I do in my jewellery, and apply that to the glass.”
The new collection consists of 10 pieces that range from slender vases with ribbons of glass that swirl around the outside, to short scented-candle holders and large tulip buckets decorated with flowers. Some have spirals at the stem, evoking the escargot motif that has become a signature of her jewellery, while the glass colours include iridescent mother-of-pearl and a soft, bubblegum pink. “I love to have pink, because it’s on the edge of being tacky, so it’s a little bit challenging.”
For this collection, the designs were even more complicated to realise because she wanted to push the limitations of the craft. “When I was in Murano the first time, I was nervous because I had never worked with glass before, and when I showed [the artisans] my designs, they said they couldn’t be done.” After a bit of persistence, Bille Brahe convinced them to work towards something different. “I’m a trained goldsmith, so know that when you work with a craft there are rules to follow – but I also know that they can often be broken. I wanted to push the classic Murano style into something that was more in my universe.”
For Bille Brahe, the glassware is a first step of a broader expansion into homeware, including metal tables and other furnishings. “I like having the freedom to have a new material to work with,” she adds. “I’ve always loved doing collaborations, and I love the energy you get from working with other people that do something completely different – and how inspiring that is.”