Industrial designer
Lara Knutson with
an armful of her cro
cheted glass yarn
Nebula jewelry.
Nebula necklace, 2011
reflective glass yarn,
rooster and peacock
feathers, rare-earth
magnets
S T O R Y B Y
Shonquis M oreno
Below:
Nebula bracelet, 2011
reflective glass yarn,
iridescent yarn, gray
pearls, rare-earth
magnets
Below:
Nebula necklace, 2009
reflective glass yarn,
rare-earth magnets
M A T E R IA L S A R E M Y O B SE SSIO N ,
says New York-based, Pratt-
trained architect and industrial
designer Lara Knutson, whose
reflective fabric-based work
is now sold at the Museum of
Modern Art Store, part of the
permanent collection at Corn-
ing Museum of Glass, and slated
for a July touring show called
“40 under 40: Craft Futures”
originating at the Smithsonian’s
Renwick Gallery. “I really feel
like I’m on a material adventure,”
she says.
Since 2002, Knutson has
been making a literally luminous
series of sculptural objects, cro-
cheted vases, conical flasks, and
jewelry with titles like Nebula,
Supernova, and Soft Chemistry
from a fabric filigreed with 50,000
mirror-backed glass beads per
square inch, which magnify
light 100 times.
If “50,000 glass beads”
sounds glamorous, consider
that the glowy material is also
used in emergency workers’
uniforms and athletic garb.
Knutson says her love of
light began with seashells that
glimmered on the shores of
Beach Haven, New Jersey,
where she grew up. When
crushed, the shells “would
crumble and shred, creating a
kind of natural glitter,” she says.
Knutson has long been drawn to
phenomena that remind her of
childhood on the beach: “light
glistening off the water, rain-
storms followed by rainbows
over the ocean, reflective fish
scales,” she says.
Jump ahead a couple of
decades, past experiments with
natural sheet mica from science
surplus stores to this incandes-
cent, microstructural textile
that Knutson stumbled upon 10
years ago. It is, she says, “a syn-
thetic version of all these natu-
ral materials” she admires.
Right:
Soft turquoise
glass vases, 2011
reflective glass fabric,
nylon thread
7.5 x 5 in. dia. (top)
7 x 6.5 in. dia. (bottom)
A Light
Touch
M A T E R I A L M A T T E R S
Nebula necklace, 2011
reflective glass yarn,
moonstones, rare-
earth magnets
028 american craft feb/mari2
Portrait:
B ea ch H a v en T im e s
/ Object photos: Lara Knutson
