A Conversation With Lukas Klimcak of KLIMCHI

Lukas Klimcak founded his Czech Republic-based glassware brand KLIMCHI just one and a half years ago, yet in this short space of time, he has garnered the attention of buyers from prestigious retailers such as Liberty London and Selfridges. Lukas speaks passionately about preserving the legacy of glass-making which his home country is known for and celebrating the true artistry of the craft. Lukas hopes to ignite in his customer the same sense of passion and nostalgia which he feels toward his Bohemian designs. Every piece from KLIMCHI is hand-made and lovingly crafted to be an heirloom, something which is treasured amongst family and evokes fond memories as time passes.

Do you have any signature designs?

Yes, KLIMCHI is well known for hobnail glassware, which is our customers’ absolute favourite. It draws inspiration from an old factory design that has been reinvented. The hobnail glassware was originally developed in the Czech Republic and was then popularised by Mr Fenton in the US in the 20th century. Effectively, we took this idea and reinvented it into a number of different products that make up our collection. I’d say it’s our current signature design, but we want to develop and popularise new ranges as we move forward.

Before Christmas you introduced the Shadows collection. Can you tell us more about it and any future collections which you are particularly excited about?

Our ‘Shadows’ collection was KLIMCHI’s debut collection designed by Frantisek. It’s very sleek and minimalistic. It takes inspiration in the interplay of shadows and colours captured in the curvatures of the glass. In April we will be launching our new ‘Felicity’ collection which is a very joyful, Spring/Summer collection of rather petite vases. We take a lot of inspiration from old, traditional techniques, reinventing forgotten, antique designs into something modern and contemporary. With ‘Felicity’ we’ve worked with cracked glass for it which is quite rare nowadays. It’s an amazing technique that we’re thrilled to bring to the market. We then have two further collections in the pipeline coming very soon as well.

Designed by Woulfe often works with artists to commission pieces for the luxury residential or commercial projects they work on. Do you ever work with interior designers in this way, or have plans to in the future?

We built KLIMCHI as more of a retail brand. We have great retail partners in the UK such as Liberty London, Selfridges and soon to be a part of Brown Thomas in Ireland. One of our dearest clients is also Petersham Nurseries in London. So we have amazing partnerships and value the retail network a lot.

We would like to develop new business strategies this year that will be more project-specific and cater more to interior designers. I don’t particularly want to go down the route of fully bespoke production because it’s an incredibly lengthy process, however at the same time I do want to develop more high-end pieces or limited collections and offer them as signature pieces for interior designers who are looking for that one stand-out piece for a residential or commercial setting.

Designed by Woulfe has invited travel and lifestyle journalist Eva Ramirez to curate our Emerging Talent Series for the Design Journal. Having lent her voice to publications including Robb Report, Conde Nast Traveller and British Vogue, she has documented her travels and the people she has met along the way in the form of long-form features, city guides, in-depth interviews and personal accounts. Through a sensibility towards conscious travel, Eva shares insight into what’s worth seeing – in between the typical hotels, restaurants or boutiques – and in the process, has honed her discerning eye for the fresh talent that are shaking things up in their respective industries. In this collection of interviews, Eva discusses creativity, craft and inspiration with some of the design world’s most exciting and inspiring trailblazers.