THE GOODNESS OF GLASS IN EACH PIECE
Story by Laura Schober
Photos provided by Laura Sasseville
Laura Sasseville’s S/S 2011 collection fuses colourful, flame-worked glass forms with pieces of cotton, wood and silk. The organically geometric creations – earrings, necklaces and bracelets – are bold and bright, just right for accenting any outfit.
Sasseville started her line during her senior year at Montreal’s Espace VERRE, a school for glass artists, in 2007.
“I didn’t necessarily want to make art to change the world,” she says. “I just wanted to mix art, design and fashion.”
‘Oceana’, Sasseville’s signature piece of the collection, exhibits a nature-meets-urban edge that is characteristic of her jewellery. A large swell of light green glass engulfs the simple band on which it sits. Sasseville, a self-described “real, urban girl,” says she includes these cosmopolitan elements in her pieces as an homage to her hometown of Montréal.
Other standouts from the current collection include ‘Urbain’ and ‘Fleur Rouge’, necklaces that incorporate the simplicity of form with impressively eye-catching colours.
Before she begins the design stage, Sasseville keeps her friends’ sense of style and interests in mind. She often generates ideas for the collection based on their lifestyle, which is also emblematic of the Laura Sasseville consumer: creative, independent women who love art, travel, design, and who aren’t afraid to try something new.
To spur the creative process of her work, Sasseville says she enjoys contrasting the warmth of textiles and the cool of glass to build from different materials and textures.
“I have always been fascinated with the possibility of mixing sculpture and wear,” she says. “Research, sketching, playing with materials and collecting images are some of things I like to do before starting a collection or glass piece.”
With each piece as unique as the next, the parts of Sasseville’s process come together in a way that extends beyond just jewellery. Considering her work is carried at the Art Gallery of Ontario, it’s clear her work is also a wearable masterpiece.
