Lagerfeld Gives You Something to Drink Your Kirschwasser Out Of
Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld recently took a break from carving a chocolate effigy of his lover to expand his design skills in a new medium.
Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld recently took a break from carving a chocolate effigy of his lover to expand his design skills in a new medium. The Teutonic titan unveiled a new collection of glassware for the Swedish company Orrefors last week. The wine glasses, champagne coupes, and tumblers have that austere German minimalism closely associated with Lagerfeld’s personal style. Rendered in black, white and clear glass, he says the milky white ones look like “free-standing geometrical clouds,” but they look a bit more like lamps, no?
Joking aside, even though the overall design is a little harsh, the glassware is sleek and modern, befitting the über-luxe image of both Lagerfeld and Orrefors, which has been producing elegant, hand-blown glass for over 200 years. One interesting — and surprisingly practical — addition to the designs is custom coasters for each glass (which he says can double as an ashtray, bien sûr).
The glasses certainly hold their own (aesthetically, at least) against similar licensing projects with other fashion designers. It’s rather interesting to note that a designer’s style gets very concentrated when it is reduced to the simplicity and practicality of household products. Lagerfeld’s severity is immediately recognizable in these glasses, just as Vera Wang’s delicate femininity is represented in her collection for Wedgwood and Marchesa’s overwhelming opulence saturates their collection for Lenox.
We also like the Montreal Gazette‘s title for the Lagerfeld/Orrefors project, “Now We Have Further Evidence that Karl Lagerfeld Is a Machine,” because “[b]esides designing clothes and taking fashion photos and doing interviews, Lagerfeld does automotive design for Volkswagen, designs bottles for Diet Coke, directs TV ads for Magnum ice cream and has his own perfume” and now glassware. Well, you can’t argue with proof, though we wonder how much he actually designs himself.
Orrefors by Karl Lagerfeld will be available in select stores September 1, 2011. Watch an exclusive interview with Lagerfeld here.
