Besa Lighting » Handcrafted Glass

A TRADITIONAL ART GIVES CONTEMPORARY LIGHT ALLURE
Handcrafted glass shades offer beauty while effectively directing and/or diffusing the light output of the fixture. It can also elicite an emotional response from us. The relationship between artful glass and functional living is like a romance, and it is truly the essence of Besa Lighting Co., Inc. We believe that this traditional art adds real value to your contemporary lighting.

The methods used to create our glass have been passed down from generation to generation for over 3,000 years. The imagination, the passion, and the personal experience of each glass artisan are infused in the final object, and determine its quality. Because glass artisans tend to develop their own specialties, Besa's glass comes from around the world.

HAND FORMING
To form a glass shade, molten glass is taken from a furnace with a pipe. The artist pre-forms it by blowing through the pipe, inflating it like a hot balloon. He turns it to rough out the shape. Then the still-viscous material is blown into a mold to give it the final shape. For pressed glass, the glass is poured into a mold and pressed into shape with a stamp.

The glass piece, after being removed from the pipe, is made stronger by annealing--a slow process of reheating and controlled cooling. This relieves tensions in the material itself. Further work includes cutting, grinding and polishing, and any final decorating. Decoration on Besa glass can include painting, foil appliqués, etching or even handcutting.

VARIATIONS: THE BEAUTY OF CHANCE
We at Besa strive to achieve a level of consistency between glasses, but it is inevitable that no two pieces will be exactly alike. With handmade blown glass, every item is an original piece of art, possessing its own character. Small variations in color, decor pattern, thickness or dimensions are normal. You may even find a few visible air bubbles. These variations underscore the unique value of each piece. Variability grows with more complex decors, such as frit. For example, Honey and Ceylon are so hand-intensive that an exact match is virtually impossible. And that's part of the beauty.

LIT OR UNLIT
Please note, most of our glasses will appear different when you turn on the power. Colors will be brighter and more intense.
Dichroic coatings, applied to some items, appear mirror-like unlit, but when you flip the switch they light up like a rainbow.

A VISION THAT GOES DEEP
- CLEAR glass is a single transparent layer, while OPAL glass is the classic diffused white.
- FRIT glass refers to small bits of colored glass. The glass on the end of the pipe is rolled in frit while still extremely hot.
As the glass is blown into shape, it melts into the surface and stretches, creating irregular patterns and varied multi-colored surfaces.
- FLAT glass starts out as exactly that. Then our artisans reheat it to work it, creating new shapes.
- CASED glass features colored glass layered with clear or opaque glass. Multiple layers of colored and clear glass together achieve
a rich color and optical depth. Etching or cutting the outside layers to reveal inner layers can be especially attractive.

SUSTAINABLE
Besa’s handcrafted glass will give you beautiful service for years. Glass is stable and long lasting. If your diffuser gets dusty or dirty, simply clean it with a damp cloth to continue receiving the most useful light. It’s also easy to replace if it should break or if your decorating theme changes. But there’s more to why glass is the sustainable alternative to cloth or plastic lighting materials.

Glass is natural. It’s made from three simple ingredients: sand, limestone and soda ash. This makes it an infinitely renewable resource. It can be recycled again and again, retaining the same high quality. It’s also chemically non-reactive, so it doesn’t break down into harmful chemicals in the earth or oceans.

Glass makes relatively small demands on the environment, and recycled glass even more so. Because crushed glass melts at lower temperatures than the raw materials, re-using glass consumes up to 75% less energy.

Some types of glass are not recycled into new glass because of their specific composition. This includes architectural glass, cookware or mirrors. But they can still be used again, ground into aggregate used in road or utility construction. A few Besa luminaires, our Scope mini pendants and spotlights, utilize Borosilicate glass that falls into this area.

SEE THEM ALL
See sample swatches of the more than 70 colors and patterns that we offer on our glass. They're on our Glass Decor Cross-Reference Page.