Glass 003 is a minimalist coffee table created by New York-based architect Clive Lonstein for STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN. Working with thick, natural molten glass, Lonstein draws from a centuries-old tradition while pushing the medium toward unprecedented contemporary expression. The casting process itself becomes a meditation on time – each piece requiring patience as the material slowly finds its form, echoing the deliberate rhythms of Venetian glassmaking yet stripped of ornamental flourish. “I’m captivated by the way glass interacts with its environment and changes throughout the day,” Lonstein explains, revealing his fascination with the material’s chameleonic nature.

This dynamic quality positions his work within a broader movement toward responsive design, where objects actively participate in spatial transformation rather than merely occupying space. The collection’s five colorways – bronze topaz, electric cobalt, smokey gray, opaque black, and clear ice – function less as decorative choices than as optical instruments, each hue refracting and absorbing light differently throughout diurnal cycles.

Lonstein’s Harvard architectural training manifests in his geometric vocabulary: offset geometries, diagonals, and irregular shapes that recall both Brutalist concrete forms and contemporary parametric design. Yet these angular interventions feel organic, as if the glass itself suggested these deviations from pure geometry. This tension between mathematical precision and material intuition connects his work to mid-century masters like Carlo Scarpa, who similarly explored glass as architectural element.

The collection’s minimalist philosophy extends beyond aesthetic reduction to encompass material honesty – a principle that resonates with contemporary sustainability concerns. By eliminating superfluous elements, Lonstein creates what he calls “classic, durable pieces that resonate across different aesthetics,” suggesting furniture designed to transcend stylistic obsolescence.