Alison Berger Glassworks

Alison Berger's commissions, which she creates for private clients and public entities, are the perfect culmination of her experience as an architect and as an artist. The scale and structure of these one-of-a-kind, site-specific pieces demonstrates her varied interests – scientific exploration, history, and art history are often subjects she has incorporated into her commissions – and her ability to manipulate space through sculpture and light. The results of these highly personal studies are dynamic installations that resonate with deeper meaning, mystery and magnetism that draw observers in for further investigation.

“I collected fireflies as a child growing up in Texas and the lighting I produce is basically a continuation of the containers that held those points of light,” explains Alison Berger. All of Berger's lighting reflects her fascination with the physical qualities of light and the density, form and optic properties of crystal and the way the two interact with one another. From her angular wall sconces to her gracefully curving pendant lights, her pieces refract, distort and contain light.

The idea of fireflies and constellations of stars led her to experiment with the use of a clear, filament bulb within a clear crystal silhouette. She was the first contemporary glass designer to do so and this has become a part of her signature aesthetic. Her lighting transmits an atmospheric, low volume light – not unlike candlelight – that is subtle and meditative. As Berger explains, “shadows that my light fixtures create, and the way they change throughout the day, are almost as important as the pieces themselves.”