Baxa Glass Lab’s Founder and Principal is Pavel Baxa, a designer and technologist, for whom every demanding design problem is an exciting challenge. Pavel joins the Glass Lab with his company Czech Jewel and Design, founded in 1999. Since the beginning of his work Pavel combines stone, metal and glass. At first he creates timeless jewelery and objects, later he is also devoted to interior design and creation of original one-off pieces of furniture and objects in the public space. As part of the creative process he invents and comes up with new materials, production processes and possibilities of using existing materials. It applies to such large objects as the Tallinn Independence War Memorial, which he created as part of his work at Sanssouci.
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JEWELRY
At the beginning of his work, Pavel Baxa devotes himself to a predominantly cast jewelery, for which he had to develop his own alloys with properties of precious metals. Their names are Cronilit and Feralium. For each jewel, combinations of stones were selected according to their energy properties. From the beginning they were intended as amulets.
OBJECTS
In the eighties, Pavel was enchanted by the Book of Glass Technology and began to experiment with its procedures. Based on his experiments, he developed his own technologies for the heat treatment of glass and its connection with stone and metal. The sculptural objects often had another function. Pavel created original bowls or lamps.
ONE-OFF FURNITURE
From feet to glass, everything is an original work. Through clear smooth glass we look at the structure. Every meeting at such table is an aesthetic experience. In the 90s, Pavel ran the Czech Jewelery and Design Gallery in Ungelt. The shelf system from Pavel’s hands breathes with the materials used, such as ten thousand years old oak or granite.
SCULPTURES
Nowadays non-existent copper facade at the corner of Divadelní Street, with the metal – glass sculpture of Angel, which remained as a contemporary house sign, was realized by Pavel in the 1990s. One of the larger Pavel’s sculptures in the public space are two statues for the meadow used for scattering of ashes in the town of Tábor, made from bronze and granite.
CHURCH PROJECTS
Projects for the church are one of Pavel’s favourites. He worked on the interior elements of the Cathedral of St Cyril and Methodius in Prague, for example, he created an entrance to the crypt where the partisans hid. Another project was the interior equipment of the synagogue in Heřmanův Městec. In cooperation with Milan Novák, they created a cross with glass Christ in the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Stara Boleslav in the chapel of the Blessed Emperor Charles and the reliquary of Emperor Charles.
MEMORIAL IN TALLINN
For a 24.5 meter high monument to the Estonian Liberation War, Pavel Baxa developed a glass called Arctic, which looks like ice and at the same time resists great temperature changes and vandalism. Arctic glass is AKC-74 Y shotgun-proof. With this glass, the Czech company Sanssouci won the tender of twelve international companies. The memorial was ceremonially lit by the President of the Republic exactly at 0:00 on the Independence Day of Estonia on June 23, 2009.
INTERIORS AND EXTERIORS
The original approach to the processing of different materials has led Pavel Baxa to the design and realization of the entire interiors. One of Pavel’s first projects was the interior design, including the implementation, of the Metro headquarters and outdoor vlajkoslávy. In the pre-revolutionary era, many other interiors have been created, which do not exist anymore. Arch. Ivan Březina invited Pavel Baxa to design an entrance hall in the Hotel Olympik Garni in Prague. Pavel created an interior with lighting and equipment here. Pavel has been collaborating for many years with gallerist Mrs. Vera Hinze. Mrs Hinze operates the Prager Kunst Salon gallery in Nuremberg. During ten years he designed and realized the interior and exterior of four galleries. Pavel Baxa also participated in the reconstruction of the Municipal House in Prague. The greatest share of its interventions can be found in Smetana Hall and Lounge of the Municipal House. He also designed and manufactured a Municipal House store. In 2006 he designed and realized a Retrospective Exhibition of Blanka Matragi in the Municipal House. During Pavel’s work as an Art Director at Sanssouci, many contracts were carried out abroad.