The ultimate multihyphenate Solange Knowles showed the world the depth of her interest in design last year, when a spread in Apartamento magazine revealed that the Grammy-winning singer’s former longtime LA pad was furnished with pieces she conceptualized herself. These prototypes—a circular modular sofa in brown velvet, an aluminum bench with an etching of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, a lamp inspired by Egyptian pyramids—have yet to be made available to the masses, but come June 2, fans of the artist will be able to purchase a few of her smaller-scale designs in the form of a line of glassware.
Knowles’s Small Matter Art Objects: Glassware 001 collection will be available via the online gallery and shop of her multidisciplinary creative agency, Saint Heron. The line of smoke-colored vessels was designed by Knowles and made by glassblower Jason McDonald, who you may have seen on season two of the Netflix glassblowing competition show Blown Away. VIDIVIXI founder and interior designer Mark Grattan, a consultant for Saint Heron, served as the product developer.
“The collection encompasses light, color, movement, form, and collaborative process to translate the design language and sculptural vigor explored in the signature works by Saint Heron’s design studio and gallery, Small Matter,” reads an Instagram post announcing the glassware.
Knowles holds a cocktail in one of her new glasses.Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Crown Royal
Like everything Knowles does, the collection is a love letter to her community. “Designed by multidisciplinary artist Solange Knowles and produced in Philadelphia by glassblower Jason McDonald, the objects are intended to inspire communal connection through intimate gatherings while deepening artistic interest in the sprightly contributions of Blackness to arts, decor, and architectural glassblowing. A palpable transformation of sand and fire into unique glassware, Small Matter Art Objects: Glassware 001 reveals the sentience of black objects through the landscape of domesticity—and Saint Heron wishes to sustain that sacredness through the encouragement of Black collections,” reads another Instagram post shared by Saint Heron around the launch. The collection consists of 198 items, all handmade by McDonald in a Philadelphia hot shop.