I’m all about pretty fabric. Yes I’m about fabric for all the gorgeous sartorial reasons; however, seeing a textile where it has not been before, where its showcased yet again in all its beauty, is a great feeling (yup, things get a tad visceral with my textile appreciation). Therefore, this had to be brought to the attention of you, my sewing buddies.

Showcased for you here, is a beautiful blending of fabric and glass. It’s not just a layer of cloth mechanically put together between two panels of glass riveted together. We’re talking liquid glass, people! The fabric is stretched out, and sandwiched between molten glass. It cools down to the most beautiful table top – ever! Albeit heavy; so heavy that moving it would need a team of very strong individuals. This particular dining table is owned by my family in San Diego.

Since the table top is so heavy (think 600 pounds), my brother Junaid, and sis-in-law (San Diego’s well known interior designer Anjum Razvi, ASID) spent a long time zeroing in on the table base which could support the glass and still have panache;  and the fabric had to be appropriately showcased without covering the base. And, they got it just right! The base for this table is wood with brass rivets — I want to call it a tough/arty look, for want of a better word.  The table top has an airy transparent look but both layers of glass together are about 1″ thick;  the fabric is polyester organza with thin chain stitched concentric circles. All very delicate looking.  And… the table base and glass top work in perfect harmony for a beautiful piece of furniture!

The artisans and designers who work with this technique — they call it LamArte( as in “laminated art”) — are Baja Custom Interior Group. To see examples of their LamArte glass with fabric, liquid dye and other materials, you may want to check out their Facebook Page.  Another thing about this technique is that no two pieces are identical.

In closing, all I can say is – wow.  Kudos to BCIG for their creativity!

Samina