Amber and brown glass is making a comeback and there are many clever and innovative ways to work it into your home. The colours emulate old-fashioned boiled sweets in shades that range from barley sugar to cola cubes.
As a dramatic way to divide up a larger open-plan space, London-based A-nrd Studio, Alessio Nardi and Lukas Persakovas recently installed clear and amber glass panels into Kol, a new, modern Mexican restaurant by former Noma chef Santiago Lastra.
Having worked with the likes of artist Jeff Koons, graphic designer Peter Saville, lighting meister Lee Broom and product designer Tord Boontje, Nardi cooked up room dividers for it that looked like they walked out of a dive bar in New York’s old east village.
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It’s a look that bespoke Ballymount-based joiners Moore O’Gorman can do as a series of panels to get the cool curved lines.
“The amber trend brings warmth to clear glass,” explains John Adams of Article Dublin. “In amber an empty glass vase can still look quite decorative whereas plain glass can often look boring.”
And while the shade runs from yellow to brown amber he suggests sticking to the golden end of the spectrum. The fashion for brown apothecary glass works best on scented candle jars like Irish-made Clean Slate uses in its scented candles to brings a lovely cosy glow, he says.
In lighting, it all started with the filament bare bulb, a simple yet super-effective way to warm up a room and give it a sense of that warm glow Adams talks about.
Eoin Shanley of Delgany-based Copperfish Studio has designed a whole collection of such warming table and floor lights using salvaged wood that work in rustic and urban environments. Nuura is another lighting brand doing interesting things with gold glass. The Anoli is a 13-bulb pendant, €6,999, while the Apiales is a 18-bulb chandelier, €3,799, that looks lovely set-low over a dining table, to order from Hicken Lighting.
Dublin lighting designer Vicki Rothschild is one half of UK-based lighting designers Rothschild Bickers. The brand is one that interior designer Roisin Lafferty has used in multiple projects and includes simple forms in candy colours to OTT adornments such as frou frou fringing. Vicki says amber-coloured lighting has become really popular in the last 18 months with sales of the shade up 60 to 70 per cent.
“It’s a very safe way to bring in strong hues and works with a maximalist sensibility and the fashion for darker interiors,” she says.
One of the smartest accent pieces available in amber is Miniforms Soda, a coffee table by Greek designer Yiannis Ghikas that has been made using hand-blown Murano glass. He describes it as a “funky take on a traditional artisanal technique”. Made from a single, 20-kilo piece of glass that has been hammered by hand whilst still hot, to create a prism-like effect when light is refracted within its surface, it comes alive in a sunlit room. It comes in two sizes, 38cm by 45cm, €765, or 55cm by 30cm, €1,055, ex-delivery, from the Italian firm.
A talking point portable table lamp option is Bonta by Artemide, which has a Topaz milk glass base and a ‘bowl’ top that you can fill with olives or nuts is available from Chaplins.
There are plenty of decorative details you can find to bring this colour home. An affordable option is Penneys’ scented candle, €6, with an orange and vertiver fragrance in a curved amber glass, available when stores open. At Jysk you can buy the Anders amber glass tea cup for €5. And Kinto Sepia milk jug, €28, has a retro feel that is very instagramable, says Adams.
Citrine is another closely associated shade. Pictured is the Carat lever door handle. Part of Haute Deco’s gems collection and designed by Marie-Véronique Swannell it costs about €417.
In furnishings, a bit of burnt orange upholstery will bring in an amber element. Dublin-based April and the Bear has a selection of occasion chairs in the shade.
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