How Strong Can Thin Ice Be

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.

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.

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.”

“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.”

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.

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.”

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.