Atelier Mel launches four models of glass mosaics, ready to shine at your home.

SEE THEM HERE

Are they a lamp? a wall art piece? What do you think?

When Atelier Mel took its first steps, it did so by launching four collections of handmade glass mosaics. We created a series of modular systems that could be adapted to each space to provide a unique solution to each client. 

Today, after almost eight years since the creation of the collections, and with the intention of bringing our pieces closer to domestic scale projects, we are launching four pre-designed models that are ready to travel to their new destination.

One model for each of our modular collections.

Three color palettes for each model

And the possibility to integrate LED light on the compositions

100% hand-made in Spain

You can place your order on our website.

Don’t miss the special prices during Black Week!

 

 

 

 

 

How a failure made us improve our working methodology by introducing 6 simple changes in the process.

The project

In 2018 we had the opportunity to do a large ceiling installation for a Hilton hotel in Boston.

We worked hand in hand with Lori Kramer to shape a focal piece in the lobby bar. We had to create an installation that would simulate the optical illusion of sunlight rays illuminating the gloom.

 

We subdivided the ceiling surface into 5 irregular pyramids with a point of light at the vertex. These pyramids were formed with colored glass slats that got gradually darker toward the central light spot.

 

Each of the pieces composing the metal substructure on the ceiling was different and had to be numbered to ensure a correct installation. The assembly process was simple but very precise because each piece was unique and irreplaceable.

We focused our attention on the tough part of the design. All the special pieces were designed, manufactured, numbered, and packed correctly, but we made a major mistake.

The mistake

There were two very simple pieces that served to join the portions of the structural radios that held the glass slats. The design was correct, the quantities of these pieces were calculated correctly but due to a human error, the necessary quantities were interchanged without anyone noticing the error in time.

We shipped all the material to Boston and sent our team of assemblers from Miami. Everything was going well until we ran out of one of the joining pieces. Almost 4000 kilometers away and with the installation already underway, we had no choice but to stop the installation at step 11.

Due to this tiny mistake, we lost several thousand euros, we became for the first time the cause of a delay, and it placed us on a very complicated position in front of our client.  

 

The learning

With a lot of effort and the collaboration of our suppliers, we were able to manufacture the missing parts very quickly. We traveled from Spain to complete the installation only a few days after having to stop it. 

This stressful and costly experience at an economic level was a great lesson that forced us to establish new work protocols. We understood that despite being a team of people who individually can make mistakes, as a team we had to find a way to ensure we are able to react on time.

These were the changes we introduced in our process:

• Automate error detection: Always introduce checkboxes in spreadsheets that automatically detect errors.
• Name the person in charge and also the supervisor of each task. One person can make a mistake but two people making the same mistake is unlikely.
• List the most sensitive processes. Anticipate which are the parts that can be easily damaged during shipping and assembly and look for a mechanism that allows us to react wherever we are.
• Always make extra parts of small components that can be lost on site.
• Use as much as possible standard assembly parts that can be purchased on-site wherever we are. Only make a special part if the advantage over a standard part is too great.
• Count all the components when preparing the shipment and do this task with enough time to remanufacture missing or defective parts.

Our job consists of manufacturing unique parts, which, at the end of the day, is like making prototypes every time. The level of demand is high because we only have one chance, and the result has to be perfect. We can never replicate a design but we can replicate a process and we must ensure that each project, each iteration, serves to replicate the learning and make the result better and better.

 

This project that began in 2016 was the first opportunity for my team to make a foray into the world of sculpture design. A field that allowed us to confront a greater formal and conceptual freedom and also complexity.

The Objective

This project was born out of a new collaboration with the European architects’ studio Rockwell Group.

The Rockwell team in Madrid was working on the design of the common areas of the new W Hotel in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

On the rooftop terrace of the new building located at the seafront we find the Siddharta Lounge, a Hindu-inspired space where visitors can relax and enjoy the incredible views.

As a focal art piece in this space, Rockwell thought of working on the three-dimensional reinterpretation of a traditional symbol of Hindu and Buddhist culture, the mandala.

Mandalas are representations of deities and paradise with circular drawings composed by a radial repetition of equal elements.

Conceptualization

The most obvious way to translate this two-dimensional symbol into a three-dimensional object was to project it onto a semi-sphere and complete the geometry with two identical pieces. A static piece that reproduces a single symbol.

As great lovers of geometry, at Atelier Mel we immediately began to investigate different polyhedrons that would allow us to decompose the shape so that a radial repetition of the same elements, this time applied in three dimensions, would result in not just one mandala, but several, depending on the observer's point of view.

The piece would be viewed from different heights. First from the entrance where the observer would be standing, and then from a seated position, where the observer would be resting on the sofas arranged around the sculpture. The third point of view would be the zenithal view, not because the observer can see the piece from above but because a hidden light at the top of the piece would project a new mandala on the floor.

We looked for the right dimension of the sphere and the geometric decomposition that would allow us to obtain a different mandala for each of the points of view in which the observer can be located.

Materialization

When deciding on the construction system, we always take into consideration that the complexity and therefore the price of the parts to be manufactured increases as we add degrees of curvature. A sphere is an object with double curvature. There is no possible section in which a sphere results in a straight line. To decompose the shape into flat portions we again had to resort to polyhedra.

The structure chosen for the sphere was composed of pentagons and triangles with a size that was ideal for both shipping and assembly. However, it was still necessary to provide the piece with a greater degree of richness of detail considering that the observer could even touch it.

Breaking down the geometry of the modules into small planes was a complex geometric exercise that simplified fabrication while creating undeformed reflections of the landscape by means of mirrored flat pieces always perpendicularly oriented to the center of the sphere.

Simplifying the construction system also eliminates the need for prototyping. If you do not prototype a unique piece, if the prototype is only virtual, you directly reduce costs by 50%. This is an advantage we usually cannot do without.

With regard to structural design, the biggest challenge is to create sufficiently robust pieces by integrating the structural solution into the overall design concept. We always try to avoid applying structural solutions that are dissociated from the original shape, thus avoiding the appearance of elements that only have a structural function.

In this case, the actual subdivision of the sphere into pentagons and triangles is generated by the disposition of six rings arranged in different directions. These flat section rings are the structure, the fixing points of the modules and they also hide the electric cable that powers the light that illuminates the piece from the top. All the components form part of a whole in which the hierarchy of elements is not perceived.

Transport & Assembly

With a vocation to provide our services internationally, it is essential that the design is conceived from the idea of minimizing the number of components to be assembled on site.

One of our greatest challenges is always to try to ensure that our presence on site is not indispensable. This requires a lot of synthesis in the design. We face the great difficulty of making everything look easy. Moreover, it is only by synthesizing that we can achieve elegance.

Our team of designers is present at the pre-assembly in Barcelona to detect and correct all possible errors in the piece and to ensure a rewarding experience for the team in charge of the installation on-site.

It is very important that the piece is easy to assemble, not only because this means that it is not essential to send a team from the other side of the world with the extra costs and coordination difficulties that this entails, but also because a piece that is easy to assemble is also a piece that is easy to disassemble and maintain.

Result

As a result, we obtained a three-dimensional Mandala that plays with reflections, shadows, transparency, and the different points of view from which we can observe it. 

If you need help to translate your artistic concepts into real pieces we will be happy to do the journey with you.