Is it art? Is it furniture? Is there a distinction? These are questions designer Brian Thoreen answers in his provocative work, which ranges from curved glass tables, weighed down by cast bronze blocks, to blown glass “melted” over angular handcrafted metalwork. Sometimes his designs are obviously quite functional and categorical, other times artistic merit outweighs function. Either way, his works highlight and draw on the power inherent in his chosen materials, and Thoreen thrives in the spaces in between.
Thoreen had explored a range of disciplines and mediums before committing to furniture design. He filled his 20s with experimentation with painting, fabrication, building, welding, architecture and fashion — but he always came back to making furniture. Thoreen studied painting in community college, though much of his talent in design is a culmination of experience he amassed through jobs along the way. He worked as an art installer at Kayne Griffin Gallery, a carpenter at Southern California architecture firm Marmol Radziner and also founded his own gallery MASA and experimental glassmaking collective, VISSIO.
While Thoreen has found a renewed vigor since relocating to Mexico in 2017, the 1960s and '70s Los Angeles art scene informs much of his work. Thoreen learned firsthand from many artists of the era including James Turrell, Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell and Robert Irwin. These visual artists, who were associated with the period's Light and Space movement, explored light in relation to geometric abstraction and minimalism, which resurface as themes in Thoreen’s furniture.
Thoreen’s Cantilever tables and Reaching Console in his sculptural Unsettled collection, which was exhibited at Patrick Parrish’s gallery in New York City in 2017, feature a sublime marriage of marble, smoked glass and cast bronze, and the components are not held together by the typical hardware associated with these kinds of structures — none of the pieces use fasteners of any kind.
With his prioritization of minimalism and the honesty of the materials, Thoreen endeavored to ensure that his pieces wouldn’t need any fasteners secured by screws to stand on their own, relying instead on what he knew about mass and space (a set of bronze counterweights is doing the heavy lifting on the collection's Console). As such, like each of the designer’s works, they’re striking statement pieces in any space — “unsettled” or not.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Brian Thoreen decorative objects, storage case pieces and lighting.
$6,900
Burnout 4
By Brian Thoreen, Héctor Esrawe, Emiliano Godoy
Located in Mexico City, MX
Burnout sculptural vessels by Héctor Esrawe, Emiliano Godoy, and Brian Thoreen, are a formal study of entropy as expressed through sequential degradation of a wood mold by the glass ...
Glass
Burnout 4 Hand Blown Glass Decorative Vase
By Héctor Esrawe, Brian Thoreen, Emiliano Godoy
Located in Mexico City, MX
Burnout sculptural vessels by Héctor Esrawe, Emiliano Godoy, and Brian Thoreen, are a formal study of entropy as expressed through sequential degradation of a wood mold by the glass ...
Glass
Price Upon Request
Brian Thoreen Vessel 2
By Brian Thoreen
Located in Brooklyn, NY
One of three vessels developed as the material maquette's for Brian Thoreen's larger works. Comprised of a cast bronze bowl, grey marble and grey glass. Also available in brown or re...
Marble, Bronze
Price Upon Request
Brian Thoreen Vessel 3
By Brian Thoreen
Located in Brooklyn, NY
One of three vessels developed as the material maquette's for Brian Thoreen's larger works. Comprised of a cast bronze vessel, red marble and grey g...
Marble, Bronze
Price Upon Request
Brian Thoreen Vessel 1
By Brian Thoreen
Located in Brooklyn, NY
One of three vessels developed as the material maquette's for Brian Thoreen's larger works. Comprised of a cast bronze bowl, red marble top and bronze glass base. The height of a sma...
Marble, Bronze
$2,341 / item
H 10.63 in W 6.7 in D 4.34 in
Luxury Heart Vase “Brain”. Porcelain. Handmade in, Italy, Wall decor
Located in San Miniato PI, IT
The heart collection is the result of the extravagant creativity of two innovative designers, who are inspired especially by the human body. The heart collection is inspired by the ...
Porcelain
Baré Tall Plant Stand, Walnut with Cast Bronze Tray
By Jake Whillans
Located in HAMILTON, ON
The Baré Tall Plant Stand is part of family of objects designed around the act of indoor horticulture. Named after Jeanne Baré, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe - each object in the series provides an elegant, elevated pedestal for your houseplants. The Baré Tall features a cast bronze tray...
Bronze
$2,700 / item
H 21 in Dm 18 in
Baré Side Table, White Oak Base with Carved Soapstone Surface and Leather Tray
By Jake Whillans
Located in HAMILTON, ON
The Baré Side Table is part of family of objects designed around the act of indoor horticulture. Named after Jeanne Baré, the first woman to circumnavi...
Soapstone
Matthew Solomon, Glazed Vase with drooping Blue Tulip, US, Circa 2017
By Matthew Solomon
Located in New York, NY
Contemporary glazed porcelain sculpture by Matthew Solomon. Unique piece, signed and dated. Using fine porcelain and glazes he crafted himself, Matthew Solomon translated the unruly...
Porcelain
Vintage Fused Glass Footed Vase, Hand Blown Art Glass
Located in Clifton Springs, NY
Sculptural vintage vase is decorated with free-flowing fused red and yellow glass designs on mottled pink glass background; colored glass encases clear glass core, with clear glass ...
Art Glass, Blown Glass
$2,200
H 12 in Dm 6 in
Rare Dutch Green & White Royal Delft Delvert Hand Painted Japanese Bottle - 1968
Located in Kilmarnock, VA
A rare and beautifully crafted tin-glazed earthenware bottle/vase in the traditional Japanese Fles style, notable for its delicate geometric motifs painted in soft, tranquil shades o...
Pottery
$2,000
H 6.5 in W 6.65 in D 4.8 in
Richard Teschner for Loetz Merman Glass Jug c1906, Uranium Glass Elements
By Johann Lötz Witwe, Richard Teschner
Located in Clifton Springs, NY
Striking Art Nouveau jug was designed by Richard Teschner in 1906 for Lötz Witwe, Klostermühle. It was made in mould-blown technique in opal or alabaster white glass with uranium green glass applications. Comb and long moustache are green, and eyes and pupils are made of yellow and red glass. The jug can be identified by multiple veritable online and printed resources; it was manufactured in clear and opal glass with both uranium green and clear green applications; some resources have the opal one listed as model no. 4506, but we haven't seen any mentions of uranium glass anywhere, making this piece rather rare and unusual. This piece will work very well in any style of interior or would make a great gift for an art and design enthusiast. The jug is in good antique condition with light, age-appropriate signs on wear on the bottom. Both sides of moustache have sharp ends; upon close examination of pictures of Merman jugs that were listed as "in perfect condition" and had the same sharp ends, we came to a conclusion that the sharp ends must be created as a part of manufacturing process during the application of long, thin strands of stretched glass...
Glass, Uranium Glass, Art Glass
Anzolo Fuga Hand Blown Glass "Pavone" Vase, 1950s
By Anzolo Fuga, Arte Vetraria Muranese (AVEM)
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Hand blown glass “Pavone” vase with colorful rod and murrhine by Anzolo Fuga for Arte Vetraria Muranese (A.V.E.M.), Murano, Italy, 1950s. Reference: Rosa Barovier-Mentasti, Anzolo Fuga, Murano Glass...
Murano Glass
1950s French Blue and White Floral Cast Iron Planter
Located in High Point, NC
A cast iron planter from France, circa 1950. Recalling the French countryside of a bygone era, cast iron elements are bolted together in a charming rustic construction. Adorned with ...
Iron
$2,450
H 6.5 in Dm 5.75 in
Flavio Poli for Seguso Vetri d'Arte Blown Glass Vase Model 7609, Italy, 1940s
By Flavio Poli, Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in New York, NY
Seguso Vetri d'Arte elegant glass vase model 7609, Italy, circa 1942. This Murano blown glass vase was made using the cordonato ritorto technique of gently twisting ribbed glass in a...
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Chinese Blue and White Vase
Located in East Hampton, NY
Ceramic
Baré Tall Planter, Walnut with Cast Bronze Tray and Planter
By Jake Whillans
Located in HAMILTON, ON
The Baré Tall Planter is part of family of objects designed around the act of indoor horticulture. Named after Jeanne Baré, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe - each object in the series provides an elegant, elevated home for your houseplants. The Baré Tall features a cast bronze planter (4-gallon capacity) with integral drainage to a cast bronze tray...
Bronze