T Sakhi create tableware from Murano glass and salvaged metal

‘Tasting Threads’ by Beirut-based T Sakhi comprises a collection of tableware items that have been created by the design studio in collaboration with Laguna B, a Venice based company that creates objects with the intention of projecting a positive impact on the current and future generations. The collection features several colourful long and short glasses, flat plates, shot glasses and deep bowls. Serving as an example of the unification of Lebanese and Venice traditions, these handcrafted pieces are created by the expert craftsmen of Venice in traditional Lebanese shapes.

“The process of glassmaking, its malleability and fluidity which turns to solid, made us want to explore the different possible textures,” share designers Tessa and Tara Sakhi of T Sakhi about the starting point of their interesting Murano designs.

T Sakhi is a Beirut-based design and architecture studio, founded in the year 2016 by Lebanese-Polish sisters Tessa Sakhi and Tara Sakhi, who are architects. What makes the duo’s creations unique and captivating is the provocative nature of their designs laced with a familiarity that stimulates memories of both emotional and physical experiences. Their projects range from urban installations and collectable objects to small scale architecture, scenography and film.

The firm focuses on creating designs that push people to interact with them as well as introspect and question the normative definitions of both acceptable and shunned identities and activities in our society. Sometimes featuring as a challenge to power structures and at other times, serving as an unironical reflection of the society, the installations and objects designed by the young firm do not shy away from borrowing and collaborating with artists and designers from different cultures and professional backgrounds.

Keeping in tandem with their desire to borrow from different cultures and practices, the sisters joined hands with the expert glass masters of Venice to create tableware pieces that utilised reclaimed metal waste, thus endowing the final products with interesting new textures. Sculpted into cohesive pieces by sand-blasting technique, the pieces in this collection are tainted with wide hues of colour that range from alessandrite and amethyst to amber, ruby and cobalt. In addition to their beautiful colours, the objects are characterised by intricate patterns left behind by the metal waste used in the process.

The ‘Tasting Threads’ collection is the third in a series of collections created in collaboration with the Murano experts. The previous two collections, namely ‘I Hear You Tremble’ and ‘Nomads’ comprised round sculptural pieces created with recycled glass and aluminium debris and a series of glass alcohol flasks respectively. Both of them exude the same charm as the ‘Tasting Threads’ collection, reflecting a beautiful glow from their textured surfaces.

In deriving inspiration from two cultures and developing unostentatious, yet alluring designs, T Sakhi has succeeded in creating objects that satisfy contemporary sensibilities, while also retaining the charm and curiosity that is associated with archaic objects.