FLOAT IN ART

Float glass is manufactured predominantly for architectural and domestic uses. Being used for home windows, car windows as well as for architectural structures. It is also used for furniture with a modernist aesthetic because of its high polish and sharp edges.

Ghost Clear Glass Chair. 

Designed by Cini Boeri and Tomo Katayanagi, 1987. Manufactured by Fiam, Italy.

0.5" float glass

These designs however are very limited because of the nature and properties of the glass, so the only viable and industrial ways of using it in design production were by fusing, slumping or constructing the glass into the desired form.

Contemporary glass artists also use float glass in similar ways, for example Artist Walead Beshty who uses constructed float glass in his sculptures. He first smashes the   sheets of float and then reassembles them into their original form, displaying the fragility of the material itself.

Walead Beshty.

Wa2005 FEDEX 157872 REV 10/05 CC, Fedex 2-Day,

Los Angeles-Berlin(Tracking No. UPON SHIPMENT)

lead Beshty, Fedex® Kraft Box ©

Walead Beshty

SSCC 139751 REV 10/05 "FedEx Large2007FedEx Large Box,

Double Laminated Safety Glass, Accrued FedeEx Tracking Labels & Metal

45 X 31 X 8 cm

Another artist who uses float glass in their work is Irish sculptor and instillation artist Corban Walker who creates architecturally inspired pieces using float glass and mixed media in what he describes as 'walls' or 'grids'. His works embrace concepts of architecture and minimalism, which is evident from the repetitive, formal structures that dominate his aesthetic.2

Grid Stack 1 (2007)
clear float glass and Diamante glass
38" x 24" x 17-3/4" (96.5 cm x 61 cm x 45.1 cm)

2. The Pace Gallery, 'Past Exhibition. Corban Walker: Grid Stack', 2010. http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/11546/32/106927/the-pace-gallery-25th-street/exhibition/corban-walker-grid-stack/ (accessed October, 2010)