Nendo's Oki Sato has designed a series of cast glass chairs for Venetian brand WonderGlass, which feature a U-shaped base formed by the effects of gravity on molten glass.
Designed by Nendo founder Oki Sato, the Melt collection features a chair that is comprised of an inverted arched base topped with a contrasting, flat pane of glass, and backed with a larger rectangle of glass.
As well as the chair, the collection comprises a dozen pieces of furniture all formed by gravity over a pipe or mould. These include an armchair, chaise longue, dining table, side table, partition and vase.

Drawn to working with WonderGlass for their highly-skilled craftsmen, the Nendo founder was inspired to design the Melt collection after watching the traditional way that these artisans worked with molten glass in the brand's workshops. Sato told Dezeen that he was surprised to see the highly-skilled craftsmen shaping glass freely, "like a child moulding a piece of clay."
According to the designer, the idea was to allow the glass to control the design process, letting it flow by way of gravity and the weight of the material itself. "In a way, doing less and achieving more is the most complicated thing to do," he said.

For example, to create the chair, first molten glass was poured into a square frame while several craftsmen simultaneously evened out the surface using iron trowels.
The glass gradually cooled and, once it reached a certain pliancy, was moved and placed onto ...