tree trunk glassblowing molds by marco merkel

‘scolyt’ series by marco merkel

taking on randomness as his tool, german designer marco merkel created ‘scolyt’, a series of glass and wood objects using that which he found in nature to cast his work. merkel collected rotten trees, split wood, fallen logs etc. and transformed them into blow moulds to create organic glass vessels produced through an uncontrolled / uncontrollable process. merkel has let nature guide his forms, letting go of the production process which often calls for precision and perfection, and instead, embracing defects and disfigurements.

the project was conceived under the direction of professor axel kufus at the universität der künste berlin where merkel is an industrial design student. the glass objects were produced in museumsdorf baruther glashütte. 

a glass vessel contained inside of a tree trunk mould

glass pieces released from the moulds

rotten logs, tree stumps etc., merkel found and used to create blow moulds to create his works

blowing molten glass into a tree trunk mould

video of the ‘scolyt’ series production process