Studio Glithero: Boisbuchet Workshop

The relationship between scent and glass has been the focus of a workshop by Studio Glithero at Domaine de Boisbuchet in Lessac, France. From July 19 to 29, participants were tasked with creating a perfume vessel using Boisbuchet’s experimental wood-fired kiln. Assisted by two expert glassblowers from the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, participants made prototypes to be used in an upcoming exhibition about perfume at mudac in Lausanne. TLmag spoke to London’s Studio Glithero –British designer Tim Simpson and Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren, who met while studying at the Royal College of Arts– about how process enthrals them.

TLmag: Your work has been characterised as trying to emphasise the magical moments of creation and transformation. How has this fascination affected your design process?
We are probably the most curious people in a factory tour. Our favourite thing to do is discovering how things are made in as much detail as possible. We spend a lot of time afterwards trying to pare down a process, and reduce it to its most perfect and simple form. We design both choreographies of making and end products that can be enjoyed and understood by a broad audience.

Have you worked with scent before? What do you think is the potential of combining perfume, glass and ceramics?
No never, but we can see the potential. Particularly because in this workshop we are thinking of a container that can capture scent and bring it to a wider audience to experience. We are designing the vessels and methods of smelling that will be used by the public in an exhibition about perfume at Mudac in two-years’ time.

What are some of your observations on the workshop so far?
We are working with a temperamental woodfire kiln and a limited range of glassblowing tools, but so far the best results have come from these very limitations. Keeping the kiln alive is a process that involves a physical commitment from us (we are feeding it logs of wood in shifts every few minutes through day and night) and this has made us very invested in the outcome.

How do workshops like these affect your own work and inspiration as designers?
It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to disconnect from our usual work environment and the internet, live outdoors and spend our time from sunrise until sunset creating interesting design proposals with a talented bunch of people. We feel charged up afterwards.