PATERSON ZEVI is proud to debut a new body of work by Yali Glass, designed by Marie-Rose Kahane in Venice, in conjunction with the London Design Festival. On display at our Mayfair space is a series of coloured, glass-topped tables, titled the ANGEL series. An intense research period preceded the production of these pieces, which focused on the importance of different colour theories. Josef Albers served as a key inspiration, not only with his artworks, but also with his book Interaction of Color (1963):

We are able to hear a single tone.
But we almost never (that is without special devices) see a single colour unconnected and unrelated to other colours.
Colours present themselves in continuous flux, constantly related to changing neighbours and changing conditions.

In this seminal text, Albers compares the perception of colours to the process of reading and to musical composition. In reading we do not register letters but rather words. Similarly, when we hear single tones, we do not hear music. It is by creating the in-between tones and their placement and spacing that we hear music. In response to these observations, Yali’s ANGEL tables are made by mixing colours to create harmonies and dynamic compositions.

Volumes (or shapes) and colours are the main protagonists in the world of glass making. The intentional reduction of the ANGEL tables to a clear-cut square shape provides an ample space to explore the world of colour. This modular quadrilateral shape enables various colour planes to be placed next to one another sparking a diverse interplay of colour.

The ANGEL tables are an unlimited series and are produced in two sizes, so as to be assembled in pairs. Similar to the placement and spacing of tones in music, the gathering of these different coloured glass tops enables us to both perceive what happens in the space between colours and truly appreciate the contrasts between warm, cool, light and dark tones.

The title ANGEL tables originates from a play on the word ‘angles’, referring to the perpendicular lines that define these pieces. The flat glass tabletops are made in Murano by melting down and fusing together cotissi (leftover chunks of glass from previous firings). The metal bases are constructed at the legendary Venetian blacksmith Officina Zanon.

This presentation marks a continuation of PATERSON ZEVI’s passion to create dialogues between art and design in London and Venice. It follows on from Yali’s inclusion in New Nature (June 2021) where Kahane’s unique moribana vessels were a central part of this group exhibition as well as SALOTTO, an exhibition in Venice combining Yali’s glass ISOLA tables with paintings by Rade Petrasevic and lighting by Charlap Hyman & Herrero (December 2020).