Based in Milan, Italy, design atelier Effetto Vetro’s concave disk mirror is crafted with a gently contoured profile and beveled edge to produce swirling reflections and patterns, creating a luminous effect. Margaret Kim, of soyun k., a design gallery in New York City, is promoting Effetto Vetro, whose unique mirrors, furniture, and lighting designs are created using vintage 1950s color palettes and heritage glassmaking techniques.




soyun k. Brings Italian Design Brand Effetto Vetro to the American Market



by Benjamin Genocchio   



“Effetto Vetro seems to fly under the radar,” says Margaret Kim, owner of soyun k. in The Gallery at 200 Lex Powered by Incollect. The Italian artisan brand specializes in colored cut glass and crystal handcrafted furniture, lighting, and mirrors favored by in-the-know interior designers. Especially popular are their colorful disk mirrors, offered in a rainbow of luscious tones: rose, amber, bronze, yellow, green, China blue, aquamarine, azure, and cobalt blue, as well as gray and black.  


Kim is on a mission to promote the brand. She met Effetto Vetro's Maurizio Foddis and Andrea Baisi over a year ago at their studio in Milan and was so impressed she asked to represent them. They agreed to exclusively sell their handcrafted mirrors and furniture, branded with their official "Effetto Vetro" plaques, through soyun k. Although they still sell mirrors and furniture under their names through galleries in Europe and a few select dealers in the USA, only her pieces will have these distinguished-looking brand plaques.  


“I felt compelled to give Effetto Vetro the recognition they deserve in the market as the talented artisans they are,” Kim says. Foddis and Baisi founded Effetto Vetro in 2014 after years of working in Italian artisan glass workshops, including with Roberto Giulio Rida Studio. Drawing on this experience and technical innovations in glass and mirror production, they created a unique collection using a range of modern and historical opaline glass along with their own innovations. 




Left:  An eye-catching and boldly sculptural two-door cabinet by Effetto Vetro in a playful harlequin pattern of light and dark, flat and shaped diamonds. The cabinet is exclusive to soyun k.  Right: In a moody and romantic setting, the Effetto Vetro disc mirror casts a serene glow. 



“We pride ourselves on having a niche and limited production, being just the two of us. We spend our time thinking, designing, and producing all our work,” says Foddis. Their designs were developed through hours of experimentation in the studio and intensive research, including the study of old, discontinued glass types of different colors and thicknesses. In this way, they have revived and developed new and distinctive glass colors.


Part of the inspiration for this research and innovation has come from years spent restoring vintage glass pieces produced by Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand, Gio Ponti, and other modern designers whose work Foddis admires greatly. He slowly accumulated various bending molds from old glassworks, now closed, which he has modified to create new shapes. More recently, Foddis and Baisi purchased two glassmaking furnace ovens, including one designed specifically for glass fusing, a process not commonly used today.


“We have modified the furnaces according to our working needs—curvature of glass and glass fusion is often what we are after,” Foddis says. “One oven has a capacity of 3 meters by 2 meters, and in Italy, there are only 3 examples of this kind of furnace that we know of. The scale of this furnace allows us to conceive and design unique and very large pieces that would be impossible to make with traditional ovens and therefore are difficult to find on the market anywhere today.”




Left: The sculptural two-tier coffee table has a concave, beveled edge lower tier in China blue mirrored glass and a flat upper tier in crystal clear glass. The contours of the lower tier capture reflections that change with shifts in motion, light, and the position of the viewer, creating a scintillating effect.  Right: Modernist side tables in aquamarine glass with a satin brass tripod base and floating orb, available in pairs or individually.



Glass is a mercurial material. It has unusual and very particular characteristics—it is hard and resistant, but at the same time malleable and moldable. It has the advantage of being sustainable and recyclable and has consequently returned to fashion in an era when renewable natural products are at the forefront of design consciousness.


Foddis is the creative force behind the brand. He started working in a glass factory at the age of 19, where he specialized in hand grinding and restoring important historical glass pieces. From 2006 to 2021, he produced handmade glass mirrors, lighting, and furniture for Roberto Giulio Rida Studio, and in 2014, he started his own studio on the side, Effetto Vetro. A year later, he partnered with Baisi, his brother-in-law.


“What sets Effetto Vetro apart from others who commercially manufacture glass mirrors and furniture is their knowledge of glassmaking and their artisanal techniques, only a very few designers have Maurizio’s experience in the world of glassmaking. What he does is an almost extinct type of work,” Kim says. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their concave mirrors, which are made entirely by hand in an intricate, multi-step process. Kim witnessed the mirrors being made on a visit to Milan and happily explained the technical process. “Once the diameter has been cut to the extent needed, the edge of the glass is smoothed. Then the glass is hand beveled, which is the process of flat grinding and can be seen on the perimeter of the glass. Once the grinding is complete, it is placed inside a special mold. Based on the color and size of the glass, the oven is set to the correct times and temperatures. This warping cycle varies from 6 to 24 hours. Once the glass is curved to make it concave, liquid silver is sprayed manually on the back of the glass to add the mirror effect. When that has dried, it is coated with a special protective varnish. Everything is done by hand.”


The mirrors sell well. Kim believes this is because of the design and process but also because they integrate well into any interior and are well priced, in the $12,000–20,000 range. Each is custom made, so each is slightly different, unlike the mass-produced items of a similar style that can be found at retail furniture stores. “The beautiful, special thing about them is you simply can’t get that kind of glass anywhere. They have so much experience working with Roberto Rida and others. Rida likes to use vintage glass from the 1950s for his lamps and furniture. Maurizio knows and loves the qualities of the vintage glass and he labors to recreate it anew.” 


Effetto Vetro continues to experiment with new products in glass and Kim is working with them to create a line of wall lights and sconces, as well as mirror models in different shapes. “We are working on renderings made from computerized drawings for the sconces and looking at some different metals to pair with items such as brushed gold and bronze. I want to offer different metal finishes for the products which will be combined with the curved, colored glass.” 


Kim is also in discussions with Effetto Vetro about the production of chandeliers, a glass table, and a one-off cabinet. “I have a pair of side tables now available on Incollect made exclusively for soyun k.,” she says “but there is very little material available because up until now things have been custom made.”  Kim is excited about the future collaboration. “Effetto Vetro is well established, they collaborate with several international galleries and are represented at top art and design fairs in Paris, London, and New York. They have so much more to offer.”




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