Beat Karrer

, Studio Beat Karrer
Used blown forms, shaped with a wooden mold to create carafes with triangular mouths, a nightlight, and an opaque hourglass.
Beat Karrer
Swiss, b. 1966
The most amazing thing for me to see is this change of state when it becomes hot. Normally you recognize glass as hard, breakable, transparent, cold. As soon as it’s getting hot –actually very hot– it becomes like honey, it has an amber color…The professional glassmakers…can really shape it, like sculpting it. That was really amazing to see how soft this strong material, or hard material, can be.

Beat Karrer was born in 1966 in Zurich, Switzerland. From 1985 to 1989, he apprenticed as a carpenter, and received a GBMS diploma with a vocational design qualification.

Possessing experience in furniture, exhibition, interior, and jewelry design, Karrer opened Studio Beat Karrer in Zurich in 1993. Clients include Anthologie Quartett, Ballfinger and Designerslabel (Germany), Boffi and Corian/DuPont (Italy), Offecct (Sweden), Burri, Röthlisberger, Kidsmodern and Tossa (Switzerland), and TossB (Belgium).

Karrer’s honors include winning the Materialica Design Award in 2006, being nominated for the 2007 Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany, being a finalist in the “Lights of the Future” 2008 competition, and receiving a gold award in the category "CO2 efficiency" at Materialica 2011.

Karrer is also an active guest critic at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He lectures and participates in juries throughout Europe, and he holds summer workshops for the Vitra Design Museum.

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Videos: 

During Art Basel in June, 2011, GlassLab presented at the Vitra Design Museum. Designer Beat Karrer describes working at GlassLab during this event.

Events
GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum 2011
Art Basel/Vitra Design Museum |
June 14 - 19, 2011
The Vitra Design Museum and The Corning Museum of Glass partnered together during Art Basel 2011 to provide GlassLab on the Vitra campus. International designers, like Stephen Burks, Sigga Heimis,... more
Process: 
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum 2011
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum 2011
Crowd at GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum 2011
Designer Beat Karrer and Glassmaker Eric Meek discuss the design concept
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Prototype by designer Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Design sketch by Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Marc Barreda and Ian Schmidt at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Designer Beat Karrer at GlassLab
Marc Barreda works on an hourglass prototype by designer Beat Karrer
Marc Barreda works on an hourglass prototype by designer Beat Karrer
Marc Barreda works on an hourglass prototype by designer Beat Karrer
Marc Barreda works on an hourglass prototype by designer Beat Karrer
Designer Beat Karrer
Prototype by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Prototype by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Prototype by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Prototype by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Prototypes by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Prototype by designer Beat Karrer for GlassLab
Design drawing by Beat Karrer for GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum, Art Basel 2011
Design drawing by Beat Karrer for GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum, Art Basel 2011
Design drawing by Beat Karrer for GlassLab at Vitra Design Museum, Art Basel 2011
Prototypes: