PRESS RELEASE 19.08.2017
J. HILL STANDARD
Crystal Tableware, Gift Ware and Lighting Collection
Waterford, Ireland, JULY 2017
J. HILL’s Standard is a maker of hand made crystal glass based in Ireland, now introducing to the market its second collection with multi-award winning designer Daniel Rybakken. (‘Light guru and master of the new modern minimalism’. Wallpaper Top 20 under 40 Design stars of tomorrow. Winner of the 2017 Söderberg Prize) .
This young companies’ debut collections by Martino Gamper and Scholten & Baijings were shown at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during Salone del Mobile 2014. The two collections of glassware have gone on to win many awards and critical praise including the Wallpaper Whiskey Den award 2015, the German Design Council prize for Tabletop in 2016 and has been acquired by the Louvre for le Musee des Arts Decoratifs for permanent display and the National Museum of Ireland for their contemporary collection.
J. HILL’s Standard creates both functional crystal pieces which are usable and accessible and ‘free’ pieces which actively explore new approaches to the making and enjoyment of glass.
Daniel’s work occupies the area between art and design, forming limited editions, art installations and prototypes for serial production.
At J. HILL’s Standard we work with the traditional glass making skills that remain in our area and build on those through exposure to new making challenges and collaborations with other specialist glass houses. We are invested in our role as a cultural project with a wider commitment to the community of glass makers and to re-establishing the region as a centre for glass making excellence where glass makers, designers and artists can make, learn and exchange knowledge.
Daniel Rybakken
Daniel Rybakken (b.1984) was born in Oslo and trained at AHO, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.He has a Master of Fine Arts from HDK, the Academy of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg.He lives and works in Gothenburg, where he has run Studio Daniel Rybakken,since 2008.
Subconsious effects of daylight, his degree project at HDK from 2008, examined how daylight influences us. Rybakken has continued to investigate light and lighting and has received numerous awards, most recently the Söderberg prize: the world’s biggest design award.
The Söderberg award committee say: “Daniel Rybakken successfully raises design to a higher philosophical level. He reflects on major questions and uses his ideas to create projects that not only follow design history, but also develop it. He uses poetic and magical effects to recreate daylight in enclosed spaces, bringing us new light.”
He has won many other awards including the ‘Best of the Best’ Red Dot Award in Singapore in 2007; the Anders Jahre’s Cultural Prize for Young Artists in Oslo in 2008; the Design Report Award for best designer at Salone Satellite in Milan in 2009; the Bruno Mathsson Award in 2011; the London Design Medal and the Golden Chair from the Swedish Association of Architects in 2013 and the XXIV Compasso d’Oro ADI in 2016.
The Secant Project
Together with a mobile installation, the Secant project was presented in prototype at Palazzo Litta and Spazio Rossana Orlandi during Salone del Mobile in Milan 2016.
Daniel says of the pieces ‘ Secant is about visual and semiotic contrast; the glass disc communicates something pure, fragile and elevated in value, whilst the machined metal parts communicate the industrial.’
Using the simple glass discs as a point of departure Daniel has designed three lights – wall, floor and table. Restrained and minimal, this modular design allows the glass to be appreciated without any overbearing interventions.
Secant is a series of hand cut glass discs suspended and supported by a metal skeleton linking the glass with the light engine and the wall or surface below.
The lathed anodised aluminium becomes both a visual, tactile and also a symbolic contrast to the glass. The LED light source does not illuminate the disc directly, but is angled towards the surface behind or beneath the object, reflecting and diffusing the light back through the glass into the surrounding space.
Each of the lights function both as a sculptural installation and as a practical light piece.
Since viewing in Milan, the lights have won several awards: The Wallpaper Design Award for the Secant Floor Light 2017 andThe Bo Bedre Design Award for Lamp of the Year 2016.
J. HILL’s Standard Back Story
Hand-cut crystal is a craft synonymous with Ireland and, in particular, with the area around Waterford. At one time Waterford produced the world’s finest cut lead crystal, using 120 furnaces and 3,500 craft workers, and in doing so it drew artisans and industrialists from around the world. However, the industry has been in decline and today there are just a handful of small workshops still practicing the traditional methods of making.
J. HILL’s Standard founder Anike Tyrrell says: ‘ By building carefully on existing skills, accepting the limitations that we now have to work within and working steadily towards the goal of adding new skills and innovative processes, we hope to gradually re invigorate the craft base. There is a great deal to learn from exploring collaborations with the global community of glass makers (each of whom tends to specialise in different spheres of skill) and with designers who are equal to the challenge of taking a fresh approach to the medium.’
The brand takes its inspiration from John Hill, a pioneer of crystal making who joined the Waterford Glass House in 1783. Before his sudden departure just three years later, he noted his formula – his ‘Standard’ – for compounding glass and passed it to a trusted friend who continued his legacy of excellence and set the course for the superior production in Waterford.
Anike Tyrrell, Founder of J. HILL’s Standard had worked for many years as CEO of Waterford County Enterprise Board, which was established to fill a need for economic development in the County Waterford area. Anike has witnessed first hand the huge impact that the decline of the world
- renowned Irish crystal industry has had on the local community. J. HILL’s Standard was born from a desire to revive this almost extinct industry, building on the talents of an existing group of skilled craftsmen and adding to those skills over time through collaborations with communities of glassmakers from other traditions and through world class design input.
J. HILL’s Standard is working with the National College of Art and Design in Ireland to explore ways of making the crystal discs and other forms in Ireland and is very excited to collaborate with their Professor of Glass Art, Caroline Madden and with the student body.
www.jhillsstandard.com
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For further information,imagery or prices please contact: Anike Tyrrell: Founder J. HILL’s Standard anike@jhillsstandard.com
m: +353 87 6504565