Glass already has a mesmerizing quality – fragile yet enduring, transparent yet expressive – but scaled up into furniture, it becomes almost hypnotic. In his debut collection, designer Clive Lonstein pushes the material beyond its expected forms, transforming it into sculptural tables that feel all at once grounded and ephemeral. Made in collaboration with art and design gallery STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN, the limited-edition Glass by Clive Lonstein collection highlights the powerful qualities of this material, elevating glass as the main attraction in any room.
While many contemporary designs lean heavily into aesthetics at the expense of usability, Lonstein takes a stand for both. His philosophy – that “true luxury lies in performance” – is rooted in his architectural background as a Harvard-trained Master of Architecture and former Design Director at Studio Sofield. With this latest expansion into custom furniture, Lonstein channels that same ethos, crafting pieces that prioritize durability, functionality, and lasting presence.
The collection consists of a dining table, coffee tables, console tables, and side tables. Each piece is crafted by Oakland-based artisans from thick, natural molten glass, giving the collection a visual weight balanced by a surprising lightness. Lonstein draws his architectural training with forms that defy symmetry: offset geometries, sharp diagonals, zig-zags, and irregular shapes. These angular lines are softened by the fluid nature of glass, which moves and settles organically into subtle curves.
The palette is equally captivating, with jewel-tone hues of bronze topaz, electric cobalt, smokey gray, opaque black, and clear ice casting tinted shadows onto nearby surfaces. As daylight shifts throughout the day, so too do the tables’ visual impressions, creating an ever-changing interplay of color, reflection, and atmosphere.
Glass furniture is nothing new, but Lonstein’s collection revitalizes the idea by showcasing its exquisite materiality, bringing sculptural depth and functional durability to the table – literally. It’s a striking first chapter in what promises to be a long and thoughtful evolution of his expansion into the world of collectible design.
Clive Lonstein
To learn more about the Glass by Clive Lonstein collection, visit studiotwentyseven.com.
Photography by William Jess Laird.
