Never stop at appearances.
Have the ability to look beyond.
So it was from an intuition, from a challenge, from a love for an incredible material that everything came about.
Glass.
A material that dates back to the dawn of time.
It comes from the earth even though it is transparent.
Is it fragile?
Or so strong that it protects us from the elements?
Is it intangible?
Or so precious that we can look beyond, to infinity?
When a series of events led me to work with this material, glass was nothing more than a sheet. Its uses were limited, not just because of technological issues but also because of misgivings that people had about it, because it was perceived as cold and sterile. Something that had to “merely” fulfil a purpose.
I was working in a glass factory at the time, and in part because of my temperament, in part because of my artistic studies, which I was already trying to combine with functional needs, I instinctively wondered whether it would be possible to make a seat made entirely of glass. What a novel idea… someone sitting on a sheet of curved glass!
That’s how “Onda Pouf” came about – from a highly unconventional intuition.
In 1973, I launched the first range of products for FIAM made entirely of curved glass.
My challenge took shape, namely to persuade the public that this material was “worthy” of becoming part of everyday furniture. To do this, I would have to change the conventional view and succeed in making people perceive the beauty, versatility, uniqueness and poetry of the material.
And that’s what I did. Year after year, FIAM grew and evolved by believing in glass and continuing to explore it. Our appetite for research has been fuelled by many contributions over the years. By artists, designers and professionals.
Today, we have gone beyond transparency and surpassed the conventionally accepted idea of glass by making our glass unique through fusion.
And this is how we will continue to look beyond.
Giacomo Mornico
Irene Sartor
Marco Tonet
Nicola Carpene
Simone De Gasperin
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