Glass: Materials for Inspirational Design

The book discusses the use of glass as a material for mass production and its application in product design and architecture. It continues the presentation format established in Plastics but unlike plastics, wood or even metal brings together what is an under-presented material in this context. The aim is provoke designers into abducting glass materials from the craft arena and the technical industries for which they are developed and apply them within the design industry to produce novel applications. The book contributes to the evolution of new glass based materials by offering information on tactile, mechanical and visual properties. It also contributes to the materials and design debate by providing a level of visual and textual information that is relevant to the working practice of designers. Specific properties are extracted from the various industries from which the material comes and are presented to the designer as possible features to be applied to design. The content was devised to be comprehensive, to maximise creative application potential across a broad range of design fields. It assembles materials ranging from bio glass through to structural glass for the built environment. New production methods are also presented, a research theme that I have developed in a subsequent book