matali crasset + vincent breed: cuttings at granville gallery

matali crasset + vincent breed: cuttings
granville gallery, paris
may 19th to july 1st, 2011


'cuttings' by matali crasset + vincent breed


for the past ten years or so, dutch glass blower vincent breed has been blowing objects conceived by
paris-based designer matali crasset. so, when jean-pierre bruaire and catherine melotte of granville gallery
approached crasset to propose a project with another artist for their parisian space, she immediately thought of
a collaboration with breed. 'for this project, I wanted to work closely with vincent. the starting point was to make a
suite of objects which would not be predetermined by vincent's blowing and to make the pieces without a mould,'
says crasset.



breed blows glass directly on top of the clusters of branches which act as a sort of mould


through her work, crasset often refers to forms in nature, not for nostalgic purposes, but more for their structural capacities.
together with breed, she has developed a series of vessels entitled 'cuttings' which are the result of a common reflection about
one-off glass objects that pay homage to nature. to express this, the basis of the duo's exhibition at granville
is presented as a process.



up close look at how the glass fuses into a bundle of branches


in developing 'cuttings', crasset and breend chose a tree in which they marked parts of the branches, cutting them
and keeping the selected elements to create bundles that are used as a kind of mould. it is within these clusters of branches
that breed has blown glass, burning into the wood and picking up imprints of tree textures. this methodology creates an original form:
the glass bubble goes from a fluid form to undulations and deformations which evoke matter in a boiling fluid state.
the length of breed's breath and the burnt form created by the glass in fusion results in a set of pieces which prolong
and question the memory of nature in a subtle manner.



bundles are held together by webbed straps



mould with glass removed revealing a burnt heart







the liquid glass picks up the textures of the branches





the length of each of breed's blows determines the detail of the impressions 


















the production process:


the chosen tree and marks made to indicate where the cuts should be made



branch cuttings



branches are cut at various lengths and then arranged in bundles which form the moulds



inside glass blower vincent breed's workspace



breed blows hot glass into the bundles which burns into the heart of these clusters of branches imprinting the fluid lass with the textures of the tree