Bowled Over by Sinks
In the current era of modern decor, the path to sculptural enlightenment leads straight to the bathroom sink.
Once the province of shiny white pedestals or Corian-topped cabinetry, the bathroom has become the setting for a new organic art form. There, fused-glass, wood or granite bowls hang from the wall, sit ensconced in iron stands or perch on top of furniture.
Materials like wavy fused glass come with different edge finishes, exotic hardwoods that extend to African wenge, and granite has been polished to a high shine inside the bowl but left rough and natural on the exterior. There are even etched-glass sinks that are lit from below.
“Glass sinks are really hot at the moment,” says Barry Goldberg, one of the owners of Union Hardware in Bethesda, Md. “What started percolating as a trend four years ago has really started to boil.”
While clear glass sinks and etched versions are part of this trend, multicolor fused-glass is attracting rapt attention. The colors and textures resemble a lava flow trapped between two pieces of glass.
Alchemy Glass & Light in Culver City began producing fused-glass sinks three years ago. “We thought the idea of a glass sink was pretty silly, but we’d make them if people asked for them,” says Steve Weinstock, who with partner Michael Murphy had been experimenting with fused glass for use in lighting fixtures.
Weinstock and Murphy are cagey when it comes to explaining their technique. Basically, they take two layers of glass, cut it to the shape needed and put a mixture of “minerals and things” between the layers. The piece then is put into a very hot oven until it gets soft and taffy-like.
“At this point, the two outside layers of glass stick to each other and trap the minerals inside,” explains Weinstock. “What little oxygen is present helps them to react and to form colors and patterns, although we don’t have much control over the pattern.”
Another fused-glass aficionado, German manufacturer Stefan Wohnhas infuses metal oxides such as cobalt, chrome and copper into the glass to produce a gem-like quality. His custom-glass line of sinks in rich blues, reds and violets is carried exclusively in this country at AquaDreams Ltd. in West Hollywood.
This random force of nature doesn’t come cheap: Union Hardware sells one Alchemy model for $1,300 that comes with a $1,900 bronze stand. And at AquaDreams, prices range from $4,000 to $16,000, depending on the design.
Perhaps it’s this accidental “natural” phenomenon that’s part of the appeal of fused-glass sinks, granite vessels and other from-the-earth fixtures.
“People have gotten tired of man-made materials like plexiglass and plastic,” says industrial designer Abigail Amon. “I think people want to have the feel of granite or wood, the weight of a substance. They don’t want to be tricked with their materials anymore.”
This yearning for something substantial is being felt at Stone Forest, a company in Santa Fe, N.M., that’s been selling hand-carved granite garden ornaments and fountains for years. The company recently branched out with a line of kitchen and lavatory sinks that owner Michael Zimber calls an “overnight success.”
Stone Forest’s polished granite lavatory sink--slick on the inside but left appealingly rough on the outside--is made to sit on top of a piece of furniture or nestle in a rusticated iron stand. Union Hardware sells a free-standing version for $895.
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Times staff writer Connie Koenenn contributed to this story.
