An Apple Tree is the Focal Point for This Single-Story Glass House by ACDF Architecture

Architect Maxime-Alexis Frappier, lead designer of the Canadian firm ACDF Architecture, approaches each of his projects with precise rigor and careful attention. For his family’s own residence in Quebec’s Lanaudière region, he added a healthy dose of his childhood memories to the architectural concept. Frappier grew up in an orchard environment, and he wanted his children to experience some of that tradition. So he added an unusual focal point to the home: a young apple tree.

“It became a central pillar for connecting the architecture, the house, and the family,” the architect explains. “Whether through its flowers in the spring, its foliage in the summer, its fruits in the fall, or the snow that accumulates on its branches in winter, this tree participates in an extraordinary way in the creation of a living environment that is so stimulating.’’ The single-story glass house surrounds the apple tree, which was replanted in a courtyard at the center of the newly built home. Caring for the tree is a shared activity for the family, from pruning its branches to harvesting its fruit. 

But the tree is, of course, not the only striking feature of the residence by this talented architect. Set on a 6-acre forest plot, the architecture masterfully highlights the nature surrounding the home. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows let in abundant natural light and allow for sweeping views of surrounding trees. To emphasize those views, and the connection to the natural world, furniture was kept minimal with muted tones. Polished concrete flooring is also neutral. Ceilings incorporate wooden planks, with half-inch gaps between them to soften direct sunlight. 

Acting as both architect and client, Frappier crafted a home that is elegant but nonetheless comfortable. He built the home around the concept of discrete but integrated “wooden boxes.” (One houses garage and service areas, a second the children’s bedrooms and bathrooms, and the third the primary suite.) The result is a minimalist aesthetic, but there are intimate spots integrated into the design: a custom alcove was built for the family piano and the primary suite features a cozy lounge and a soaking tub. In this way, the house includes space for both connectivity and privacy. 

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Take a Look Inside With This Video by ACDF Architecture  

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These Glass Light Fixtures Nod to Traditional Venetian Techniques

A successful collaboration integrates each partner’s voice to bring forth a new language. So it is with Flora, a 20-piece lighting series by French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen and Gowanus, Brooklyn, studio In Common With. An aesthetic nod to Jacobsen’s recent line of glass objects can be glimpsed in Flora’s glass light fixtures, chandeliers, table lamps, and sconces, alongside the more minimalist point of view of In Common With cofounders Felicia Hung and Nick Ozemba.

Informed by traditional Venetian glassmaking techniques, the trio used handblown, mold-blown, and slumped-glass methods. Applied geometric dots and fins add a sense of play, while rich hues like Tobacco and Poppy Red join sophisticated pastels. Standouts include Fazzo, created via the 2nd-century process of fazzoletto, whereby gravity pulls spinning molten glass downward to form a flirty shade. Fazzoletto, after all, is Italian for handkerchief.

An Exhibition Showcasing Works by Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libenský Opens at Heller Gallery in New York

They were the power couple of the studio glass movement: Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libenský. Innovators of the mold-melting technique, which casts the material into three-dimensional objects, sculptor Brychtová and painter Libenský met in 1954 in what’s now the Czech Republic, a center of glass manufacturing and craftmanship for centuries. Together, with him sketching designs and her producing clay sculptures of those designs, they were able to translate abstract concepts into pioneering colorful and light-capturing works that nod to Czech Cubism and metaphysical philosophy; their trio of large-scale sculptures at Expo ’67 are said to have influenced such American studio glass artists as Dale Chihuly. They and their work certainly influenced Dr. Dudley and Lisa Anderson, who, with the help of Katya and Doug Heller, have amassed a sizeable Brychtová-Libenský collection, several pieces of which are on display for the first time in “Inner Light” this spring at Heller Gallery in New York. The exhibition encompasses 19 sculptures from 1958 to 2002, the year of Libenský’s death, plus four of his drawings made while he and Brychtová, who died in 2020, were teaching at Washington’s Pilchuck Glass School in 1987.

Whimsical Home Accents Abound by These Global Makers

Artists explore conceptual and material dichotomies via disparate mediums—from soft fibers to hard ceramics, fragile glass to indestructible metal.

Piecework Funnel and Crewel Basket porcelain vessels by Philadelphia-based ceramics atelier Leah Kaplan Studio

Pooja Pawaskar’s Side-by-Side mirror with wood frame by Ottawa, Canada-based Whirl & Whittle

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Bottleheads handblown glass pieces with sculpted bitwork by Rochester, New York–based glassblower/sculptor Elizabeth Lyons through LES Collection

Vertigo handbuilt object in satin-matte-finish white stoneware clay with colored underglaze by New York–based ceramics studio Colleen Carlson Design

Oakland, California–based Kieu Tran’s In Transition sculpture in glazed stoneware by Studio Kieu

Lee Series Blackrock sculpture in unbleached canvas by Mary Little

Italian jeweler Monica Castiglioni’s Emoji series Lino vases in Bordeaux enamel by Ceramiche Rometti

Lace on Madder artwork in natural dye–derived watercolor on handwoven linen by Los Angeles–based textile artist Rachel Duvall

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Low Snake ceramic stoneware lamp by Los Angeles–based ceramicist Eric Roinestad through The Future Perfect

Jana and Tanner Roach’s Mushroom stool/side tables handmade of sustainably and ethically sourced fir, larch, birch, and other woods by Kalispell, Montana–based Beck & Cap

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Doubt in wool and cotton by Kingston, New York–based textile artist Kat Howard

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Illumination Machine in cast iron and glass by Alpha, New Jersey–based designer Brecht Wright Gander through Emma Scully Gallery