Photo: Karl Lagerfeld
“What I enjoy most is doing something I’ve never done before.”
Creator, photographer, designer and editor Karl Lagerfeld likes nothing more than expanding his modes of expression. With an insatiable curiosity, always in search of new creative experiences, this multifaceted artist has had an uncommonly rich career, during which he has developed a perfectly chiselled graphic identity. Now, after all the fashion, the perfumes and accessories, Karl Lagerfeld is releasing his first line of crystal.
Given his exacting perfectionism, the designer could never have collaborated with less than the best: The Orrefors glassworks has been a Swedish institution for over a century, carrying on the age-old tradition of hand-blown glass shaped by master artisans. With its exquisite engravings, streamlined forms and colours ranging from delicate to rich, the Orrefors brand is one of the great symbols of Swedish design and luxury. It is a world-wide brand, gracing the finest tables such as the Swedish Royal Palace.
Knowing the artistic excellence of Orrefors to be comparable with the world of high fashion, Karl Lagerfeld designed a collection in his own image: Clean-lined, subtle and functional. The first members of the Lagerfeld crystal family are champagne flutes and coupes and wine, water and liqueur glasses. Transparent, black or milky white, sometimes engraved with the KL monogram, the series typifies the Karl Lagerfeld ethos of ultra-strict lines. And in the spirit of the designer’s well-known practicality, the series also includes monogrammed coasters to prevent any trace of an errant drop on an immaculate tablecloth.
Based on the same principle, the collection also features a large round bowl, a rectangular vase and a cylindrical vase, each poised on four crystal globes on transparent platforms.
With its simple colour scale, its purity of lines and shapes, the flow of the material and the refinement of the details, each crystal contour of the Karl Lagerfeld series reflects timeless elegance. The collection bestows a new, harmonious and modern face on the century-old Orrefors expertise.
The Karl Lagerfeld collection of Orrefors crystal will also be available in gift boxes containing pairs of monogrammed champagne flutes and separately sold boxes of engraved coasters to place under them. These will be available in Europe as of 1 September 2011, then released in the United States for sale exclusively at Bloomingdale’s from 15 October, to go nationwide on 1 November. The Karl Lagerfeld series exudes functionality down to the tiniest detail.
See the film with Karl Lagerfeld presenting his new line of Orrefors crystal at orrefors.com.