Shift Carafes
2019 - words by Viveka van de Vliet - A refined, architectonic family of crystal carafes that come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors. One is robust, small, and squat – suitable for whisky. Another is a wine carafe shaped like an elegant, slender lady, and yet another is a modernistic, functional water carafe. These pieces are individual characters, yet are similar in their construction. They consist of a straight, transparent cylinder at the bottom, a narrowed, sandblasted neck in the middle, and a transparent crystal collar on top. The narrowed neck gives the carafe an elegant look, but also serves as a functional place to grip the carafe.
The objects Brekveld designed have a familiar shape that stays true to the archetypical carafe, but subtle details lend the bottles a unique character. The designer plays with the shape by creating small kinks between the bottle’s collar, neck and bottom. The slight shift that occurs from one plane to the next interrupts the carafe’s smooth shape. Lining up the sandblasted material against the transparent part of the carafe reinforces the contrast between matte, icy, and industrial versus shiny, sleek, and transparent, creating a unique and exciting silhouette. The various characters in this family of carafes could hold water, oil, wine or cognac, but are also simply beautiful objects to behold.
