Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron has designed bubbly glass trophies for the Art Basel Awards that aim to capture the shape of breath in glass.
The amorphous trophies will be presented to the gold winners of the inaugural Art Basel Awards, taking place in Miami Beach, Florida, in December as part of Miami art week.
To honour the recipients, Herzog & de Meuron wanted to create unique glass objects that look like breath suspended in mid-air. Each of the clear glass trophies was hand-blown, so that no two are the same.
“Each time you breathe, it gives a different shape, like every thought we have is different,” said studio co-founder Jacques Herzog.
“I love that glass, like clouds, can always be interpreted differently,” he added. “Sometimes you see figures, sometimes you don’t. That endless transformation reflects human creativity.”
Herzog explained that the studio experimented with gold and smoke traces, but ultimately settled on the “pure expression” of clear glass.
“That’s the real beauty of it,” said the architect. “It’s something everyone can recognise in their own way.”
Herzog worked with Swiss artisan and Glassworks founder Matteo Gonet to create the trophies, beginning with simple sketches on the floor of Gonet’s studio.
The preliminary drawings featured intertwining forms referencing smoke or clouds, which eventually became solid glass objects.
“When I was approached about designing the award, at first I thought it was a very unlikely proposal,” said Herzog.
“But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed interesting because it’s so different from anything that’s ever been done for an award,” he added.
“Because it’s Art Basel, the award should be very special. The more I thought about it, the more I felt motivated and excited.”
International art fair Art Basel launched its dedicated awards programme in June to recognise achievements across the creative spectrum.
Herzog & de Meuron has completed architecture projects all over the world, most recently completing a “quasi-invisible” renovation of Marcel Breuer’s brutalist 945 Madison Avenue in New York for auction house Sotheby’s.
Founded in 1978 by Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the studio also designs furniture and earlier this month used its stools and floor lamps to create reading spaces as part of an event at the SKWAT art centre in Tokyo.
The photography is courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
