Veerle's blog

Like in any aspect of design the attention to details makes a good design perfect. So when all furniture is in place you’ll need some accents to finish it off. It doesn’t come to mind at first instance but there is a fragile beauty called glass. I’ve found a perfect Belgian designer called Anna Torfs that has a gift of breathing life into her colorful glass pieces.

About Anna Torfs

She studied interior architecture at the St Lukas School for architecture in Brussels. In 1991 Anna went to Prague for a postgraduate course in stage design. Eventually she landed in the glass industry. The past twelve years she had time to learn the ropes of blowing glass in one of the best workshops. In August 2002 the time had come to launch her own collection, this is when the "Anna Torfs" collection was founded. She lives and work in Prague now.

Techniques

She uses old bohemian techniques to produce timeless ranges of glass objects. She had to prove herself because it's a mans world mostly. She may not blow the glass pieces herself but technically she is very skilled. She works with 3 regular glass blowers and they are well paid because there have been several attempts to lure them away. Glass blowing is no sinecure, for example the "double bubble" vas weights 10 kilogram when the blowing process starts.

During the technical process the glass also has his saying because you have to deal with gravitation, cohesion strength or dilatation. Sometimes it takes 3 hours of blowing to get what she wants so it takes time and a lot of patience. By not blowing the pieces herself she can think outside of the box. Colored glass is achieved by adding ores in the form of several chemical components. The classic old red glass is called "gold ruby" because there is real gold in it. It's pure alchemy.

Anna's Work

Anna Torfs aims to be authentic, freed from fashion or added decoration. She wants to translate the centuries old Bohemian techniques into a timeless collection that speaks for itself.

Her work is not only beautiful but also functional. She makes vessels and vases that can contain content like flowers or fruit. To me all of her designs make bold statements, I love the usage of colors and the inspiring shapes she is able to create.

Next to a limited edition there is also an affordable design collection that is being hand made in small series with the help of wooden moulds. Today the Anna Torfs collection is sold in more then twenty-seven different countries by carefully selected shops and galleries. More can be seen at Anna's Torf's site