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Spacial Magazine

How Strong Can Thin Ice Be

By: Martin Váša Photo: LASVIT
#Around the World
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The unique glac­i­er cave designed by Wan­da Val­ihra­chová is ice-like, yet daz­zling and warm­ly wel­com­ing at the same time. Cre­at­ed for the Gene­va bou­tique of the French lux­u­ry goods brand Carti­er, it ele­vates the shop­ping expe­ri­ence to alpine heights. Just like in nature, every piece is tru­ly orig­i­nal, and every appar­ent imper­fec­tion is actu­al­ly a virtue.

The Swiss Alps boast a brand-new glac­i­er cave the mag­ic of which can be enjoyed even with­out trekking gear. You don’t even have to give up the com­forts of the city. It is locat­ed in Gene­va, right on Rue du Rhône, one of the most upmar­ket and there­fore most expen­sive streets in the world. For more than half a cen­tu­ry, it has been a place where shop­pers can find one of the largest Carti­er bou­tiques in Europe.

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
As with any adven­ture, a trea­sure trove of col­lectible jew­ellery, watch­es and oth­er rare pieces awaits vis­i­tors to the Carti­er bou­tique at the end of the glac­i­er cave.

As a man­u­fac­tur­er of the finest jew­ellery, the house of Carti­er is an unques­tion­able syn­onym for daz­zling glam­our. Always brought into being by means of extra­or­di­nary finesse, the beau­ty of its pieces embod­ies bound­less imag­i­na­tion, free­dom, curios­i­ty, sophis­ti­ca­tion and time­less­ness. These are the val­ues that firm­ly estab­lishedthe brand’s world­wide rep­u­ta­tion. Invit­ing a team of the esteemed North Bohemi­an glass­works led by respect­ed design­er Wan­da Val­ihra­chová to col­lab­o­rate on the glac­i­er cave there­fore does not come as much of a surprise.

Inspired by the shim­mer­ing ice found in real alpine caves, Wan­da designed a crys­talline pas­sage­way. It har­monis­es per­fect­ly both with the jew­ellery dis­played in the bou­tique and with the nature sur­round­ing Gene­va. The sur­pris­ing­ly sim­ple, straight com­po­nents impart a some­what futur­is­tic appear­ance to the instal­la­tion. In the designer’s opin­ion, the form needs to be sim­pli­fied so as not to give the impres­sion of being too lit­er­al and, at the same time, it needs to func­tion as a sub­tle com­ple­ment to the rest of the interior.

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be

It is often said that with­out light there is no life. And this is why the design­er decid­ed to cre­ate a cor­ri­dor that tru­ly comes to life once it is illu­mi­nat­ed. The impact of light on the inte­ri­or is tru­ly remark­able, resem­bling the effect of sun­rays pen­e­trat­ing thin ice. “When I work, light is real­ly my num­ber one pri­or­i­ty. Sor­ry, num­ber two. Right after glass,” Wan­da cor­rects her­self with a smile, reflect­ing on the work. “I admit that some­times the final art­work exceeds all my expec­ta­tions, and this is exact­ly a case.”

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
The indi­vid­ual com­po­nents are unique and accu­rate­ly imi­tate the sur­face of real ice. Their sur­face, how­ev­er, was intend­ed to be flat, in order to give the instal­la­tion a more mod­ern appearance.

“Light and glass need each oth­er, with­out light the crys­tal instal­la­tions would lose their beau­ty,” says Wanda.

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
Bub­bles are cre­at­ed by tiny crys­tals of glass being melt­ed between two panes of glass. “With the float glass tech­nol­o­gy, we again worked with crum­pled papers. These are squeezed by hand – it’s not machine pro­duc­tion and it makes the instal­la­tion look alive,” explains Wanda.

“If you give glass shape, tex­ture and the imprint of a cre­ator, it repays you with sparkle, but only in com­bi­na­tion with light.”

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be

As is the case with a fine­ly cut dia­mond, the beau­ty of crys­tal glass evok­ing a glac­i­er cave is wor­thy of our atten­tion. With its chill­ing ele­gance that is almost unset­tling, the cor­ri­dor has an effect on the vis­i­tors even before they enter it, and it is only the close-up view that allows them to appre­ci­ate it ful­ly. The glass is per­me­at­ed by bub­bles pro­duced dur­ing the process of melt­ing and their shape can­not be pre­dict­ed in advance. It is this very ran­dom­ness that ensures the out­come is full of life, and as per­fect­ly imper­fect as nature itself.

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
The jew­ellery dis­play in the bou­tique is guard­ed by Wanda’s instal­la­tion enti­tled Flow. With its organ­ic soft shapes, alter­nat­ing tex­tures and shades, it cel­e­brates the nature of the Swiss Alps.

The key ingre­di­ent, with­out which even the finest pieces of a jew­ellery house could not do with­out, is light. The cor­ri­dor lead­ing to the depart­ment offer­ing tra­di­tion­al goods, such as col­lectible jew­ellery, watch­es and rare antique objects from the Carti­er work­shops, seems to be there to remind you that the jour­ney, in this case, is also the des­ti­na­tion. Vis­i­tors sud­den­ly find them­selves beneath the peaks of the Swiss Alps, and their shop­ping expe­ri­ence becomes an unfor­get­table adven­ture, unmatched by any­thing else. 

Not even by the vis­it of the oth­er two hun­dred Carti­er bou­tiques that grace the world. How was it pos­si­ble to con­jure up a cor­ri­dor that so accu­rate­ly imi­tates the unmis­tak­able sig­na­ture style of nature? “I knew imme­di­ate­ly that it would be a polyg­o­nal instal­la­tion made up of a large num­ber of com­po­nents, each of them tru­ly orig­i­nal,” says Wan­da. “I approached the piece as a sculp­ture that is an inte­gral part of the interior.”

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be

An impres­sive fifty-five square metres of rich­ly tex­tured glass weigh­ing two tonnes cov­ers the walls, ceil­ing and doors of the inte­ri­or. Four extra­or­di­nary light sculp­tures accom­pa­ny the vis­i­tors on their jour­ney, as well as pay­ing homage to the unique spir­it of local nature. They also com­mu­ni­cate a cru­cial mes­sage: that this is a place where inno­va­tion is cel­e­brat­ed. More than that, how­ev­er, they serve one impor­tant pur­pose – they prove that if you are able to dream, some­times even the wildest fan­tasies can come true.

Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
“Light and glass need each oth­er, with­out light the crys­tal instal­la­tions would lose their beau­ty,” says Wan­da. “If you give glass shape, tex­ture and the imprint of a cre­ator, it repays you with sparkle, but only in com­bi­na­tion with light.”
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Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
As with any adventure, a treasure trove of collectible jewellery, watches and other rare pieces awaits visitors to the Cartier boutique at the end of the glacier cave.
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
The individual components are unique and accurately imitate the surface of real ice. Their surface, however, was intended to be flat, in order to give the installation a more modern appearance.
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
Bubbles are created by tiny crystals of glass being melted between two panes of glass. “With the float glass technology, we again worked with crumpled papers. These are squeezed by hand – it’s not machine production and it makes the installation look alive,” explains Wanda.
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
The jewellery display in the boutique is guarded by Wanda’s installation entitled Flow. With its organic soft shapes, alternating textures and shades, it celebrates the nature of the Swiss Alps.
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
Lasvit Spacial Magazine: How Strong Can Thin Ice Be
“Light and glass need each other, without light the crystal installations would lose their beauty,” says Wanda. “If you give glass shape, texture and the imprint of a creator, it repays you with sparkle, but only in combination with light.”

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