Brigid Rau is passionate about woven textiles. So when the Architectural Surfaces Designer for Forms+Surfaces was tasked with developing a new collection for the brand’s BermanGlass line, specializing in kiln cast glass, she turned to weavers for inspiration. “Woven materials bring so much warmth to an interior space while their underlying grid maintains order and composition,” she says. “I started looking to weavers such as Anni Albers and archives of twill samplers for inspiration.”
Rau’s efforts resulted in the Intervals Kiln Glass collection, which feature a series of precise, small-scale textures reminiscent of – you guessed it – woven materials. Her collection iterates on the heritage of kiln cast glass, infusing it with precise geometric patterns. The result: high-impact, low-relief designs that bring the softness and warmth of a textile to glass, a material known for its cool, hard character.
The Intervals Kiln Glass collection features six textures. Each is a rhythmic interplay of raised forms, recessed channels, diffused surfaces and areas of optical clarity. Each is crisp and consistent, visually dynamic and has inviting tactile appeal. Each captures and transports light in a different way. And each lends its own level of privacy to interior and exterior settings.
Intervals glass is manufactured in-house by Forms+Surfaces. That allowed Rau to take a hands-on approach to testing, moving from conceptualization to hands-on experimentation to responding to material-driven feedback. The results speak for themselves: the collection features intricate patterns and textural surfaces that invite visitors to engage with their surroundings.
“In early prototyping, we found ways to translate very precise geometries directly into the glass optics,” she says. “We then worked from the interplay of reflecting and refracting light on those new optics to define privacy levels and pattern rhythms in the overall glass designs.”
The overall benefits of glass designs remain, too, and Forms+Surfaces touts Intervals’ ease of maintenance and optimized light transmission. The collection is also remarkably consistent: patterns are consistent across individual glass lites, and from one lite to the next. In use, Intervals deliver uniformly aligned results, whether the material is used for room dividers, accent panels, railings, or other architectural features.
Beyond aesthetics, the material was designed with creative flexibility and ease of installation in mind. Intervals glass is fabricated to size, in typical standard glass thicknesses, with a wide range of edge details. The highly controlled depth of each texture means Intervals can be used with standard glass hardware; specialized mounting components aren’t necessary. That enables designers to tailor their glass selections – without turning to more expensive custom solutions. Anni Albers, we suspect, would be proud.
This article was published by Azure in collaboration with Forms+Surfaces. Explore the Intervals Kiln Cast Glass line here.