Basequadra - Transparent Green

"Beyond all reasonable doubt, this is a vase."

—Michele De Lucchi

The diversity between glass and iron is the main theme of the project. The difference is accentuated thanks to the contrast: the base is in natural metal and is square and thin. It holds the vase, which is conical and trasparent. The cup is worked on in all phases using artisan methods; drawn from the fire and then blown by mouth. These are operations which required talent and knowledge of the materials. The green colour is the result of research into the reconstrution of the original colour of un-purified natural glass, mostly composed of sand, silica, iron oxide and chrome. With the Basequadra vase, Michele De Lucchi wanted to combine the transparency of glass with the ruggedness of metal. The effect of the mouth-blown glass is the only decoration, impure, composed predominantly of sand, iron oxide and chrome, with its unmistakable and unique green colour. When blown by mouth in a pure form such as the cup, a vase almost becomes a lens, in which the world is seen totally changed. Michele became more and more fascinated with the idea of combining blown glass, the thinnest and most transparent substance that man is capable of creating with iron, the symbol of hardness and industrialisation.