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Swedish designers, South African crafters team up to create Story vases

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What I love most about these Story vases made of beaded glass: Although the collection was organized by a nonprofit and proceeds advance a social good, the vases stand on their own as compelling pieces of design.

It helps that the vases are lighted like a museum display, and it also helps that the venue is Spazio Rossana Orlandi, the celebrated Italian gallery that is exhibiting no fewer than four dozen designers during Milan’s design week.

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The Story vases are holding their own just fine. The collection, organized by the nonprofit Editions in Craft, pairs the Swedish design studio Front with the Siyazama Project, a program aiding marginalized women in rural South Africa.

To create the glass vases, the designers of Front interviewed five Siyazama women and compiled personal stories that included their dreams — dreams of flying in an airplane for the first time, of owning a house, of getting married, of having their work appreciated in other parts of the world. The Siyazama women then spelled out portions of their stories in beads wrapped around a wooden mold. When the beads were set, the mold was removed and a Swedish glassblower filled the void, created a transparent page for the women’s stories.

The results are one-of-a-kind objects: The irregular silhouettes, the varied thickness of the glass and the occasional bulge protruding between letters create a wonderful effect. Because the piece is transparent, the portions of glass that fall between letters can look like a series of lenses, each refracting light with subtle variation.

Editions in Craft co-founder Ikko Yokoyama said the projects helps to revive a traditional art, to form a collaboration where both designers and fabricators are celebrated, and to generate income for the craftswomen. Each vase is 1,440 euros, about $2,100, and Yokoyama said a ‘tiny’ fee goes to the designers and the bulk of the proceeds will go to the Siyazama women directly.

For a few more images from Spazio Rossana Orlandi, keep reading ...


The entrance to Spazio Rossana Orlandi’s courtyard, where the green and white blown-glass light fixture is by the Canadian design and manufacturing firm Bocci. The courtyard installation includes chests of drawers made of vintage suitcases, a design of JamesPlumb.


The courtyard is transformed at night and an epic table gets its finishing touches for a design week dinner.

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-- Craig Nakano in Milan, Italy

Dinner table photo: Craig Nakano / Los Angeles Times

All other photos: Franco Forci / For The Times

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