The entire palate is muted… rather than contrasting the region’s frequent grey and rainy skies, timber and metal in shades of grey were used. In this way the base of the stem gains enough strength throughout the duration of the pour to support the subsequent volume of fresh concrete higher up.” In collaboration with our engineer we developed a very slow continuous pour schedule, with the formula for the concrete adjusted so that it cures at the same slow rate as the pour. Arbel says (courtesy of an interview with Giovanna Dunmall with Wallpaper), “Traditionally, concrete is poured in several lifts, allowing each to cure before the next is poured, however in our case this was impossible because of the risk of one lift seeping between the extents of the previous lift and the fabric. ![]() This unusual concrete forming process was able to make the nine ribbed “lily pads.” The method involves stretching sheets of geotextile between plywood ribs that are situated in a unique configuration on the foundation. The differences continue, one side is smooth while the other is coarse one side is lustrous while the other is black. Thus, half of the final product oxidizes while the other part does not. The reaction is amazing because one side of the copper is exposed to the glass during the process while the other side is in open air. He says (courtesy of an interview with Helena Madden for Robb Report), “I wanted these pieces to, as much as possible, be a pure reflection of a chemical reaction. Left behind is a frozen metal wave that appears as though it is caught mid-spatter inside an urn that has seemingly vanished. When both harden, the glass cracks and the changed chemical make-up causes it to fall off. This action caused the metal to wash around the hot container. Once that stage was completed, he poured a molten copper alloy into a newly-formed vessel. Arbel became interested in making glass differently he hired chemists to reformulate the materials and master glassblowers to shape it. Over time and as our work has become international in scope, our approach has transformed from necessity into a working structure uniquely positioned to explore the rich area of investigation in the overlap of these fields.After apprenticing at several firms throughout Canada, Arbel began to design prototypes. This interdisciplinary approach was born of the necessities of building a sustainable and ambitious office in a context with little opportunity within the cultural periphery in Vancouver, almost as a survival mechanism. From a business structure perspective, our practice has evolved to intimately combine the fields of industrial design, architecture, manufacturing and materials research. Instead, the practice does as much as possible in house: manufacturing as much as possible of our own designs.įrom an aesthetic perspective, the idea of scale is secondary to these intentions, which we try to apply across the entire spectrum of our activities, ranging from buildings to objects. The approach of the company demands a high level of collaboration between craftspeople and designers, and as such has shied away from conventional manufacturer-designer relationships. Direct access to high craft ateliers has meant that design at all scales is investigated as an analog, sculptural exploration, using technology only as a secondary analytical tool. Thus, projects tend towards the particular rather than the universal, and have a formal appropriateness to them derived from physical, chemical or mechanical process, rather than from abstract ideas in the author’s imagination. We find form in the intrinsic qualities of materials and the processes we have at our disposal to manipulate them. ![]() With your companies spanning design, architecture, furniture, and lighting, what is the basic premise of your methodologies? Can you speak to the synergy between the two companies? Between being invited to the London Design Festival at the Victoria and Albert Museum and to Euroluce, a part of Milan’s Design week, Omer Arbel spoke to Modern Home Victoria about the international, and organic growth of Bocci. With it’s infinite possibilities, Arbel has refreshed the art of glass blowing and taken it to unimaginable heights. He is the figurehead of contemporary lighting and form, eschewing classic shapes and materials in favour of surprising sculptural configurations. Arbel has been deemed one of the most commercially successful creative minds in Canada and one of the world’s greatest designers of light. ![]() As the Creative Director at Bocci, Arbel has fashioned an experimental laboratory where the behaviour of materials are intimately examined and their process-based approach speaks to form. Portrait by James O’Mara.ĭesigner, Architect, and entrepreneurial sage, Omer Arbel heads dual companies out of this Vancouver-based Office, Omer Arbel Office (OAO) and Bocci.
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