BOMMA produces some of the finest quality glass available, both for its own use and as a raw material for glass art studios worldwide. The company is renowned for first-class production, where even the tiniest imperfection fails to pass its strict quality control. Such pieces inevitably end up as glass shards. But glass is a recyclable material and can be remelted for further use.
Inspired by this process, designers from the DECHEM Studio created Fragmentglass, a new material that upcycles glass shards. The glass fragments get a second life while partly retaining their shape and echoing their first iteration.
Studio DECHEM has extensive experience with melting shards and working with Fragmentglass material. The connection with the BOMMA brand arose, among other reasons, from the need for high-quality shards for this material and to expand the possibilities for its further design use. As a result, BOMMA now presents Fragmentglass made from its own shards under the curatorial guidance of Studio DECHEM.
Each Fragmentglass panel is carefully assembled by stacking glass shards into a melting mold. The resulting structure is quite unpredictable, and the final appearance of each Fragmentglass panel is always somewhat of a surprise as the melting process itself cannot be controlled. Elements such as bubbles or bits of iron, which would otherwise depreciate premium glass production, enliven the texture during the melting process in the furnace. In this case, these are aesthetically desirable details, making each panel a unique original.
The surface of Fragmentglass is beautifully smooth and naturally glossy, resembling a water surface. The underside of the panel shows a rougher texture that candidly reflects the intricacies of its production technology. When the edges are ground, various melted intermingling layers become visible, revealing a nearly magical transformation.
This process is only partially controllable by the artisans. Designers specify the color, size of the melted shards, their distribution within the melting mold and the format of each panel, but the final appearance is the result of creative randomness, since it is not possible to control the process inside the furnance while melting. Light permeating the glass projects vibrant colors and illuminates the panel’s edges, revealing the layers and showcasing the dramatic, sculptural effects of the material.
The designers carefully curated a color palette for the new Fragmentglass material, allowing only certain ratios of colored shards to achieve the desired effect. Designer Michaela Tomišková from DECHEM Studio says, “The development of individual colors of the panels was a complex and lengthy process, where you continuously observe and evaluate how the pattern and structure of the shards arranged in the glass furnace will turn out after melting. After many trials, we have come up with three colors that can be beautifully combined, yet each is visually strong on its own.”
The resulting Fragmentglass was created in three color variations – mysterious Black, stormy white-gray, and delicate Flamingo Mint.
BOMMA uses this innovative material in the new Fragments Lighting Collection, fully highlighting its potential. Each piece is designed with discreet shapes that allow the unique glass panels to take center stage. The new collection carries BOMMA’s signature combination of innovation, craft, technology and distinctive design. Each piece is first cut from the fragmented glass panel and then meticulously hand-cut by the master glass cutter. The shapes resemble gemstones created under pressure to reveal inner beauty.
The new BOMMA Fragments Collection offers lighting in two sizes – short and long, and three colors – Black, White and Flamingo Mint. Their minimalist mountings are available in brushed gold or anthracite.
Following the clustering design principles of BOMMA Constellations, the Fragments Collection enables creative groupings of components depending on available space. The overlapping of individual pendants, as a viewer passes by, produces a fascinating play of light and reflections. Create your own custom lighting installation using components in a single color and mix that suits your design needs.
