
invisible. glass design, an exhibition that traces the history of glass in mexico over the last few decades, is currently on view at the franz mayer museum in mexico city. curated by industrial designer emiliano godoy, the exhibition gathers over 500 diverse items – from everyday objects to artistic pieces – from the collections of glass companies nouvel, grupo pavisa, and vissio. the wide range of shapes and functions on show offers visitors a close look into the material, technical and formal possibilities of glass, while presenting a dialogue between historical pieces and contemporary objects.
items from the nouvel, grupo pavisa, and vissio collections, ranging from everyday objects to artistic pieces from their collaboration with designers, artists, and architects, such as jan hendrix, perla valtierra, edgar orlaineta, brian thoreen, and frida escobedo, compose the exhibition’s four thematic sections at the franz mayer museum. titled diversity and excellence, the first part of invisible. glass design acts as an introductory room that brings together a wide range of items tracing the possibilities and solutions produced throughout grupo pavisa’s almost seven decades of experience, and nouvel’s own 25-year history. everyday life objects, such as vases, perfume bottles, tableware and tequila bottles to glasses, shot glasses or ashtrays, are arranged in a way that highlights both their rational functionality, as well as their aesthetic characteristics.
in the second part of the exhibition, titled innovation and technology, visitors have the chance to interact with glassmaking tools in order to get acquainted with different production processes, as well as with the elements that precede the objects, such as samples, sketches, and casts. the third section, form and beauty, presents the formal and expressive limits of glass with new pieces conceived by jan hendrix, perla valtierra, edgar orlaineta, jorge yazpik, mauricio lara and frida escobedo, as well as the latest collaboration between héctor esrawe, emiliano godoy and brian thoreen for vissio.
in the second part of the exhibition, titled innovation and technology, visitors have the chance to interact with glassmaking tools in order to get acquainted with different production processes, as well as with the elements that precede the objects, such as samples, sketches, and casts. the third section, form and beauty, presents the formal and expressive limits of glass with new pieces conceived by jan hendrix, perla valtierra, edgar orlaineta, jorge yazpik, mauricio lara and frida escobedo, as well as the latest collaboration between héctor esrawe, emiliano godoy and brian thoreen for vissio.
finally, the last part of invisible. glass design focuses on the pepita engraving technique, which began in the netherlands in the 15th century, but has evolved in the hands of mexican artisans since it was brought to mexico in 1524. this last part forms a dialogue between the contemporary production of glass using the pepita technique and the collection that franz mayer built up throughout his life. from this collection of 259 historical pieces of glass, the exhibition features a selection of those where it is possible to recognize the pepita technique and its evolution throughout the traditions of europe, new spain and finally mexico, with one of the producers that keep this tradition alive: tequila producer casa dragones, who has created a commemorative piece as part of the invisible. glass designexhibition.