Oblong Blown Glass

OFF Portugal, an organization that helps young Portuguese designers to gain exposure by partnering with local manufacturers, recently put on the Glass Cares exhibition as part of Milan design week. It features ten different blown glass pieces ranging from purely sculptural items to practical works like vases and bowls, each of which is more bizarre and impressive than the last.

Though each of the designs in the Glass Cares exhibition deserves merit in its own right, a few of the pieces are exceptionally dazzling — especially considering that they are blown glass (rather than industrially crafted.) Two of the pieces, ostensibly a vase and a light fixture, have a dreamy, cloud-like rippling effect. But perhaps the most unusual of all is a large bowl that's seems to be trapped within a steel frame, like a balloon that's been impeded from reaching spherical stasis.