A couple months ago, I was at a Rainer Werner Fassbinder retrospective watching In a Year with 13 Moons. The bedroom of the main character, a tortured transsexual in West Berlin, is equipped with a full sheepskin bedcover and a nightstand cluttered with cut crystal glasses. Clearly in 1978, Elvira was ahead of the rest of us.
Of late I've been noticing that cut crystal—the very same Waterford knockoffs on display in my grandmother's dining room armoire that have been so uncool for so long—is making a comeback. But it's come out of the china cabinet. The modern context for crystal glass is a minimalist backdrop, where the refracted light bouncing off its edges is the focus. Here, to convince you, we've rounded up nine examples of the cut crystal comeback.
Above: Babel Restaurant at Babylonstoren in Cape Town uses an assortment of vintage crystal vases for its signature vegetable arrangements of everything from sprouted fennel and carrots to halved cabbage heads. Photograph by Sam Woulidge.
Above: Italian designer Patricia Urquiola's Jelly Glassware designs are available through Kartell.
Above: Cut crystal wine glasses in the dining room of Arco dei Tolomei in Rome, a family home turned B & B.
Above: French designer Clarisse Demory decorates her pied-a-terre in Sofia, Bulgaria, with found crystal glassware from local charity shops.
Above: Crystal glassware on steel shelves at Villa Chiesuola, just outside of Milan, designed by Marina Sinibaldi Benatti.
Above: Crystal glasses on the table at Kul, a new restaurant in Copenhagen. Stay tuned for a full tour of Kul tomorrow.
Above: Bulgarian designer Marina Dragomirova makes her Mixers, shown here, from vintage crystal sourced at charity shops that she then hand cuts and rejoins. For more details, see our post Pioneering Design in Bulgaria: Q & A with Michelle Lane of BREAD Studio.
Above: Another set of vintage crystal vases at Babylonstoren in South Africa, this time filled with dried poppy pods. Photograph by Robyn MacLarty.
Above: Cocktails at Jeffrey's in Austin, Texas, are served in a mix of vintage crystal and Zwiesel glassware.
Inclined towards simplicity? On Gardenista, have a look at 10 Easy Pieces: Simple Glass Vases for Under $30. For more trend predictions, see our recent posts on Chateau-Style Geometric Wood Flooring, Color-Washed Wood, and Ugly Marble.