Veil Pendant is a minimalist pendant created by Vancouver-based practice Korso Studio. Scientific glassblowing has long occupied a space between precision craft and industrial production – a technique developed for laboratory instruments rather than decorative objects. Andrew King’s application of this process to a pendant light draws on that lineage of exactitude, producing a conical shade whose form owes more to the borosilicate vessels of scientific supply houses than to the soft curves of traditional blown glass lighting. The result is a fixture where manufacturing method and aesthetic outcome are inseparable.
The shade itself is frosted and lightly waxed, a surface treatment that transforms the glass from a transparent vessel into a diffusing membrane. Frosting scatters light at the molecular level of the glass surface, while the wax application adds a secondary layer of softening that eliminates the chalky quality raw frosted glass can sometimes carry. The combined effect produces a calm, even glow – light that feels absorbed into the material rather than projected through it. It is a approach reminiscent of the rice paper shades Isamu Noguchi developed for his Akari series, though achieved here through subtractive surface treatment rather than material substitution.
Where the conical shade meets its internal structure, the aluminum core becomes partially visible through the glass. This moment of transparency is the project’s most considered detail – a controlled reveal where the precision of CNC machining reads through the softness of the treated glass. The two materials occupy fundamentally different registers. Glass is formed through heat and breath, aluminum through digital toolpaths and cutting. Their intersection at the neck of the shade creates a point of visual tension that keeps the object from settling into pure softness.
