Words Gregory Cerio

www.alisonbergerglassworks.com

This Los Angeles-based designer sheds light on glass

Some like it hot. Alison Berger likes it at 2500 degrees: the temperature at which a glassworker’s furnace burns. As a teenager in Dallas, Berger came across glassblowers working in a crafts shop, and was instantly mesmerized by the technique. She studied historical glassblowing techniques at the Rhode Island School of Design, and later architecture at Columbia University. Berger apprenticed with glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, and in her 25-year career has worked with architecture and design firms ranging from Frank O. Gehry and Associates to Roman & Williams, creating both lighting designs and barware collections. As glass is a “fluid medium,” according to Berger, each of her works is by its nature unique. She treasures such accidental variations as bubbles and warps. If there is a common thread to her pieces, it is, she says, that “they feel like they have a history to them.”

The Lantern

Indirectly inspired by a 19th-century train lantern, this pendant features a dropped and curved hurricane-style glass element. The form is almost Tiffany-esque, but what is crucial is Berger’s design is that she specifies a naked, unfrosted light bulb and a dimmer switch. “The light,” she says, “can be bright, or brought down to a low firefly vibration.”

The Bell Light

Fascinated by its refractive qualities, crystal is generally the only type of glass with which Berger works. She wanted to work in heavy crystal and in this peice a bell-shaped dome surrounds a seven-pound drop of glass that holds a light bulb. “The light creates intense shadows-which surprised me,” says Berger.

A Past Conversation

Berger has executed a series of pendant lights etched with lines from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, describing his theories on subjects such as light refraction, astronomy, and the reflection of light on water. When lit, they cast the shadows of the words on a room’s walls, and become, she says, “an expression of a memory from another time, or an echo of a past conversation.”

The Royalton Hotel

Alison Berger also works on large commissions, like the new lobby of The Royalton Hotel in Manhattan. She offered her thoughts on such projects: “Lighting an interior public space is kind of like orchestrating music: you have to hit many different notes. Spaces have different functions throughout the day- there are times of activity and times of repose and contemplation-so you have to assemble a hierarchy of lighting to reflect those functions. The best way to deal with this is to employ a layering of lighting-by which I mean that you install recessed ceiling lights, floor and table lamps, and-in the case of The Royalton lounge-my crystal spheres mounted on armatures. That way you can raise the light to the fullest, say, when it’s lunchtime, and the ratchet back the light so its dimmer, and has a more sexy atmosphere at cocktail time.”

Photos Lighting Public Space by Nikolas Koenig