francis chabloz: pistil vase

‘pistil’ vase

taking a creative cue from the industry and the world of machine tools, ‘pistil’ of the transformers collection are part of the continuous work of french designer francis chabloz and allows the user to create customized vase structures. the design is made up of four flexible simple elements: glass, plate, bowl and a ‘flute’ with an aluminum finish and a rubber bulb (pistil) bag on one end.

the bulb is slipped into the common orifice created by stacking and aligning the glass objects. using a bicycle pump, the rubber bulb is inflated resulting in a new form each time, when subjected to the pressure of the various glass configurations.

the system of the ‘pistil’ vases allows for an unlimited number of different combination depending on the stacking arrangements that the user chooses.

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom rubber bulb is inserted into stacked glass objects and inflated using a bicycle pump

image © designboom alternative stacking combination result in variants in final vase form

image © designboom

initial prototypes

the test seals were performed with a standard birthday balloon and then with a inner tube cut and sewn.

‘pear tree mold’ four molds are needed to manufacture the component parts the vase.

mold burned after blowing the piece.

glass blowing production process

glass blowing production process

glass blowing production process

sketches

‘after research on the glass, I wanted to create a vase to make all different shapes I had drawn. in doing research on how to assemble pieces of glass in another way I found a way to do it with a balloon.‘ – FC

francis chabloz portrait © designboom

the ‘pistil’ vase collection was presented at DMY international design festival berlin 2010