Visiting Analog Glass in Lichtenberg is like traveling to another Berlin. The journey passes residential buildings, warehouses and vacant lots until an open space opens up with two tall, slender towers. Everything seems to be made of raw concrete, the towers at least, but also the floors and walls of the adjacent property. Gray on gray, with a little shaggy green in between. Here, far from the city center and the ever-tightening real estate market, in recent years a group of creatives have created a space to work and live – in and around the two towers, once built as VEB Elektrokohle silos and now as the latest remains of the factory demolished some time ago.
Inspired by the familiar Tuscan towers, the architects of studio b+ responsible for the renovation named the project “San Gimignano Lichtenberg” with a gesture of cheerful exaggeration. The trick behind it: If a post-industrial landscape of ruins can radiate Tuscan grandeur, anything is possible.
The creative minds of Analog Glass, designers Birgitta Homburger and Philipp Weber, were also drawn to the shopping area by the splendor of the possible: on the ground floor of the largest tower they design and present their brand’s glass objects. Glittering jugs of pale pink and blue stand on the concrete floor, twisted-looking white lights hang from the concrete ceiling. And on the concrete gray wall you can see glass panels with an irregular, wavy surface, some reflective, others immersed in strong colours. It’s true, opposites attract. Rough and smooth, opaque and shiny, solid and translucent. The sturdy concrete allows the glamorous glass to really shine.
But concrete and glass have much more in common than meets the eye at first glance in the Analog Glass showroom in Lichtenberg. Both materials store motion. Concrete plays the role of a somewhat crude relative of glass. It flows into molds and forms as a viscous, lumpy paste and then hardens. Glass can also be cast, but in traditional glassmaking it is also blown, drawn, pressed or otherwise shaped. In ovens at temperatures above 1000 degrees, the solid components of quartz sand, soda and lime dissolve into a dense, bright orange mass. To make vases or lamps like those of Analog Glass, the glassmaker (mostly men) collects part of the mass with his pipe, a long tube. This large
“We not only want to preserve tradition, but also reinterpret the art of glassblowing and expand its potential.”
BIRGITTA HOMBURGER
The glass is blown into the shape through the tube. It is further processed with tongs, scissors, chopsticks and other tools with quick, concentrated movements until it slowly cools, over the course of hours and days. Capturing these ritualized motion sequences is also the design idea behind Analog Glass founder Philipp Weber’s Omam collection. In the creation of lamps, vases and tables, the glassmaker moves according to a choreography studied together with Weber. This dance with the hot glass creates the collection’s characteristic folds and overlaps. “We don’t just want to preserve tradition, but also reinterpret the art of glassblowing and expand its potential,” says Birgitta Homburger, who runs Analog Glass with Weber. “In collaboration with glassblowers, we are developing a design language typical of Analog.”
It sits, hangs and has air: the Omam mirrored glass stool
Philipp Weber succumbed to the magic of glass while studying at the renowned Design Academy in Eindhoven. His project “A Strange Symphony”, for which he crossed the traditional glassmaker’s pipe with a trumpet to reveal the musicality and theatricality of the production process, attracted him a lot of attention. His Omam collection seems to be a continuation of this project in more pragmatic conditions, because they are easily repeatable.
Eight years ago Weber began working as a designer for the Berlin artist Tomás Saraceno, for whom he designed, among other things, works of art in glass. In 2019 he founded Analog Glass and quickly realized he lacked the experience on how to build a brand. Through friends he met Birgitta Homburger, who also lived in Berlin. He runs his own design and branding agency and has experience in the art and design scene. Together they relaunched Analog Glass a year and a half ago, with new products and a new look, in the San Gimignano Tower in Lichtenberg.
The objects are made in workshops in the Czech Republic, the Bavarian Forest and Berlin. Weber and Homburger place their brand in the area of tension between mass production and one-offs. On the one hand, the editions are not limited. On the other hand, the peculiarities of artisanal production mean that no two pieces are the same. This includes small air pockets and other irregularities. The two also say they approach the material from an artistic perspective. They sell the objects mainly through international galleries specializing in design and fairs. “Collectible design” is the name of this type of design, which differs from industrial design which focuses on everyday objects with complex production processes, an artisanal approach and sometimes precious materials. The prices are adequate, the cheapest product is the Sobo jug at 420 euros, after which it quickly reaches four figures. Although the United States, Great Britain and France have their own collecting scenes, the interest in this country is not yet that great. “We want to awaken the German market,” says Homburger.
But what is the magic of glass that continues to fascinate people even after thousands of years? Of course there is the alchemical process of fusing the components over high heat. Each glass factory and each glass region has its own secret recipes, for example regarding the composition of colorants. But the magic also lies in the properties of the material itself: “Glass has a will of its own,” says Weber. “When I watch a glassmaker, how he works with glass, it’s like a dialogue.” Sometimes the dialogue fails, then the object fails too. During daily work in the glass factory it often happens that something goes wrong, an object cracks or shatters, even if it has already been produced several times. “Sometimes something completely surprising happens. You think the glass gave you a little clue”, says the designer. With other materials such as wood or metal you experience these moments less.
“When I watch a glassmaker, how he works glass, it’s like a dialogue.”
PHILIP WEBER
Sometimes glass needs to be tricked out a little, for example with the Lola light collection that Analog Glass launched last year. The triangular lamp was designed by the Berlin architecture firm Gonzalez Haase and can be used individually or grouped together in groups. However, getting the glass to flow into a hollow triangular shape was a physical challenge. It naturally prefers round, organic shapes where it can spread evenly.
The modular Lola lamp as a group of five
What Weber finds equally fascinating: Unlike other materials, glass cannot be touched during the design process: it’s simply too hot. To bridge this gap, tools such as glass-working tubes and special scissors were created. With their Sobo carafe for Analog Glass, the young designers Shantala Chandel and Matthias Gschwendtner have made the tool the theme of the design: they compress the hot glass bubble with specially developed tongs to give the vessel its shape. The pliers leave a vertical depression that acts as a grip.
But the art of glassmaking is seriously threatened, simply because it requires a lot of energy. The ovens are usually powered by gas and operate around the clock. Germany’s oldest factory in Poschinger went out of business in 2021, the reason: rising gas costs. The factory was founded in the Bavarian Forest in 1568 and has since been owned by the von Poschinger family for over 15 generations. The manufactory was known in the design scene, among other things, for the glass Bell Table by Sebastian Herkner, which was developed and produced there.
They make an impression both up close and from afar: Birgitta Homburger’s Initï mirrored objects in mouth-blown flat glass.
They also offer new business areas for glassmakers: Birgitta Homburger and Philipp Weber are the creative minds behind the Analog Glass brand.
With an eye towards contemporary art, Homburger recognized the potential of the material and designed the Initï mirror series. It has flat glass partially silvered and covered with colored paint. This is how wall mirrors with a strong graphic effect are created that are striking both from near and far. The term “mirror” is misleading, because the wavy structure of glass objects reflects reality only in a very distorted way. Precisely for this reason they fit so well into the San Gimignano Tower in the Lichtenberg industrial area.
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L a unique form that reflects the process of its creation. This direct interaction with the tools, rather than the glass itself, adds another layer to the dialogue between the designer and the material.
Analog Glass aims to create pieces that are not just functional but also engage the viewer and provoke thought about the art of glassmaking. Each object tells a story of its making, embedding the labor and craft into its aesthetic. The brand’s emphasis on collectible design rather than mass production highlights this intention, allowing each item to be an individual work of art while still being accessible to a wider audience.
Weber and Homburger intend to cultivate a deeper appreciation for glass design, particularly within the German market where such collectible pieces have yet to gain significant traction. They envision a wave of interest that could transform how glass is perceived in the context of design and art.
The fusion of tradition and innovation at Analog Glass is evident in every facet of their work. From the careful choreography involved in the glassblowing process to the artisanal heritage that informs their modern aesthetic, they are dedicated to reviving and reinterpreting age-old techniques. The result is a collection that not only showcases the beauty of glass but also the skill required to manipulate it, inviting observers to appreciate the dance between art and craft that defines their philosophy.