The eight-kilo monuments unite master craftsmanship with the inward emotions of those brave enough to go beyond what’s possible. The contrast between the pressure of the depths and the meditative lightness that diving provides is underscored by the brutalist edges and rotund core. “The glassmaker’s breath is like an air bubble forcing its way up through the dark ocean, to the light,” says designer and Art Director at Moser, Jan Plecháč. He introduced his vision for the glassworks’ new heading with the Abyss vase. And at the prestigious 2025 Maison&Object fair in Paris, he presented another two pieces: a vase and a bowl. Together they create the captivating and limited Abyss Family Collection, both in matte and glossy versions.
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Design and production
Abyss Family
Currently, Abyss is the most challenging piece made at our glassworks. The glassmaker and the cutter must possess not only hand-crafted skill and experience but also an uncommon lung capacity and strong arms. Only the breath of Vlastimil Habart, pupil and successor to the masterful Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Zdeněk Drobný, can form the vase. Just as only a single glassmaker can blow Abyss into shape, only a single cutter, Jargalsaikhan Tsogtoo, is capable of cutting these pieces. This then adds to their uniqueness and explains why they come as a limited edition.
When selecting the shade, designer Jan Plecháč drew inspiration from the original Moser colour palette of the 1920s. “I wanted to use a classic Moser colour but in a new way. Aquamarine had never been used in such big pieces, leaving it much darker than normal. Abyss has walls of various thicknesses, which afford it a great number of valeurs for a single colour. We achieved this effect only through cutting, not underlaying,” explains Jan Plecháč.
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Designer
Jan Plecháč
Designer and Art Director at Moser since 2022. He’s won many awards for his vision of the new glassworks’ direction and the pieces he’s designed for it, including being named Designer of the Year and the overall winner of the Czech Grand Design Awards in 2023. At the 2024 Designblok, the international jury awarded him the Grand Prix, the highest possible recognition. And he was also victorious at EDIDA 2024, where the Abyss vase then won the title of Interior Accessory of the Year. The vase also captivated the most prestigious design magazine in the world, Wallpaper, which selected it for its front page.
Jan’s work induces positive reactions both from professional panels and the public. This recognition points to the fact that he successfully joined his innovative approach with the admirable tradition started by the glassworks’ founder, Ludwig Moser, in 1857.
