Design Story: Haand Glassware
Haand has been playing with the idea of creating a glassware line for a long time. Glass shares many similarities to pottery: both are formed in heat, and both have been key building blocks of culture throughout history. Take a quick look next time you walk near an eroded bank and notice an old dump site- both glass and ceramic are always there in abundance, their surfaces dirty but more or less uncorroded. It is a material that always sits on the table next to tableware, and we always get requests for recommendations from customers. We were just waiting for the right artisan to collaborate with and then we met Chris Kerr-Ayer.
Chris is an incredibly gifted glass artist, existing in a similar space as Haand did in our early days: equal parts art, production craftsmanship, and design. As a result, we quickly had a shorthand to talk through the minutiae of balancing the three parts of our respective trades mentioned above.
The design process for our three styles of glassware was really unique for me. I combed through some books about Elizabethan and Roman Glass and did some deep dives on auction sites for historic glassware. I brought this to Chris, along with some dimensions and general guidelines: it was really important to us both that the maker’s hand was evident in every piece. We amplified this by making sure that tool marks, slight imperfections, and little variations are evident in each piece. It is a testament to Chris’s skill and craftsmanship that he could include these marks and they don’t take away from each piece, instead, they make each one more unique and perfect- perfectly Haandmade.
This was very much a back and forth, I led on design and concept and Chris gave his input on that, and Chris focused on the details that really make these shine like the small tool marks, the natural curves formed by hot glass, and maintaining consistency with each of these pieces. When you watch the videos, you can see that he is doing that all by using just his eye and a pair of calipers.
-Mark Warren, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Haand October 2022