The essentials: 25 of the best mirrors

Van Eyck gave us an emblematic example in “Arnolfini Portrait,” but the origin of convex mirrors is much older. In medieval beliefs, a reflecting and deforming sheet was thought to ward off witches and evil spirits, hence the French name, “œil de sorcièrel,” “witch’s eye.”

It represents, together with the 19^th century mirror called Napoleon III, one of the most emblematic types of mirrors and a legacy of skilled craftmanship that made the lagoon islands an unparalleled creative and productive hub. Like any other archetypical object, Venetian mirrors continue to stimulate the imagination of designers, who reinterpret it – like in the latest interpretation offered by Elena Salmistraro with Medusa – and its compositional construction with chromatic variations or new allegorical references.

Symbol of the Ponti style and forerunner of the grace that the Milanese designer impressed with his concave shapes, Gubi was initially inserted in the FontanaArte catalog. The slender frame and soft curves made it a pass-partout object and a style reference for the decades to come as well.

The passion for the female body that Mollino explored with his pictures resurfaces in the shape of this crystal mirror, which echoes the profile of Milo’s Venus and adds no decorative frills to the sensual grace of its curves.

An anonymous oval mirror turns into one of the symbols of domestic Dadaism thanks to the ironic contradiction impressed on the reflecting surface by Man Ray’s writing. We owe the mass production of this item to Dino Gavina in the early 1970s.

Also called “lipstick,” this cylindrical-based mirror had great commercial success, and proof of this is the number of copies and adaptations created beyond the original Bonetto production. With its essential lines, it is still a highly practical object, capable of combining dry shapes to small volumes.

The quintessential representative of pop culture, the mirrored sphere was created as a performative object for discos to be used with light projection. With its entry into the domestic sphere, even just as an ornament, it became a fetish and an invitation to always embrace the recreational spirit. It earned an unmatched status that intrigued designers, as the Rotganzen (Quelle Fête Muffin) and Kelly Wearstler’s (The Persistence of Memory) tribute-work prove.

How many, in the design community, have taken at least one selfie with their own reflection in Sottsass’s mirror? It’s the symbol of the crasis between a mirror and a lamp, Ultrafragola is maybe even the most renowned peak and the object of his production and an example of one of the most experimental collaborations between designer and publisher. It starts from the “Mobili Grigi” (Gray furniture) line and, with the sinuous waves of its frame, it echoes the movement of wavy hair around the face. 

Light and spatial compositions arranged according to the abstractionism codes are the genetic sequence of Nanda Vigo’s production. For this line of mirrors, initially launched in 1974 and today represented by Glass Italia, the succession of transparent and mirrored parts contributes to redefine both the perception of the object and that of the surrounding space, which is sectioned and reflected. A suspension system allows the mirrors to be installed with different inclinations. 

Caadre – Starck only need the repetition of the letter “a” to convey the spirit of his design. By re-owning a noble French tradition – isn’t the most famous hall of the Palace of Versailles the Hall of Mirrors? – Starck magnified its hypnotic power in a modern key. In addition to its large size, Caadre stands out for the silver finish of the four plates that form the frame, whose almost completely open joints seem to open the way to a possible rethinking of the support itself.

Presented for the first time at Design Miami, Studio Job’s mirror reinterprets the figurative patterns of the 17^th and 18^th-century Bavarian furniture though illustrations that use flat, symmetry, and color as a desecration tool. Like a small tabernacle, the mirror stands out for its two doors which, once closed, hide the reflecting surface.

Among the most famous pieces of the Campana brothers, Miraggio sublimates the joyful and spontaneous bricoleur approach that has distinguished Fernando and Huumberto’s work, turning it into a small piece-jewel of the house. The modules that compose it, made of laser-cut mirrored methacrylate, are assembled by hand, and tied together with nylon ties, confirming Estudio Campana's vocation for the ennobling of forms and materials deemed poor.

Simple and essential, it resembles the shape of a tray, but it can also be seen as a sophisticated and abstract reinterpretation of a classic framed mirror, here made in polished extruded aluminum, transformed thanks to the researched essentiality of its profile. It is available in three different models, both in wall-mounted and free-standing variants.

Gilthero transposed the technique used for plaster frames, which requires a tracery mold to make oval shapes, to create these mirrors. The frame is made in jesmonite, a harder and denser material than plaster, with a marble-like finish.

Loop stands out for its play of reflections created by the multiplying effect of the succession of two reflecting surfaces; it has an eight-shaped wooden frame that seats two perpendicular mirrors, one mounted to the wall and one that functions as a shelf.

This small mirror is the result of a recycling process and relative waste management, that of chemicals treated in a high-temperature furnace. The resulting synthetic obsidian is molded into an abstract shape with soft lines and a surface that has been polished to return a reflection.

As the name itself hints, the collection of Shimmer mirrors stands out for the kaleidoscopic and shimmering effect of the iridescent finish applied to its borders. It is an aura that Patricia Urquiola applies to a wide range of formats, both free-standing and wall-mounted, and that a decade after its launch still shows its relevance, thanks to its affinity with fluid and metaversic codes of the latest design generation.

Rondo, produced with the FiDU technology, used by Zieta to inflate the space between two welded metal sheets through an injection of pressurized air, is a doughnut-shaped mirror that stands out for its sculpture-like shape that merges strength and a reassuring aspect. It is also available in a colored version or copper

Gilles elevates the mirror with shelf category by drawing a perspective grid and the sheet. The black shelf simulates a windowsill, framing the point of view and turning New Perspective into a means for wondering about ourselves and our world.

Another variation of iridescence and a constant in Ermičs’s production since his early days, Coulourscape plays with the juxtaposition of colors and their glows, creating a mirror that encompasses both simplicity and metaphysical presence.

The porosity of design, art, and lightness of a humorous exercise is one of the characteristics of Gilad’s piece. In the Deadline collection, 16 unique pieces offer visual research that stands in between geometry and optical effects. The technique used – the juxtaposition of two glass sheets, one back-painted and the other decorated with abstract shapes – elevates the meaning of the mirror and turns it from a means of faithful reproduction into a new opportunity to understand and grasp space. 

A mirrored surface somewhere in between a black hole and a trip back in time: Claud Glasse is a black mirror that, in addition to reflecting the image of those looking into it, projects a timelapse landscape, to be observed through the meticulous details of the documented videos.

As the best designer of his generation, Philippe Malouin determines the shape by playing with the process more than with the decoration, and he does so through a simple yet clear gesture: squashing the top end of a stainless-steel tube and turning it into a surface. Once polished, the tube is turned into a small tabletop mirror that can be moved as desired.

First designed as an installation for the exhibition “The Conversation Show” (curated by Maria Cristina Didero) at the Design Museum Holon and then commercialized by Gufram, Broken Mirror explores the theme of the crack and turns the mirror into a new door to be crossed to reach, at least with our mind, dream-like places fueled by both real and imaginary reflections.  

French Gothic glass windows, but in an abstract key. This could be considered the meaning behind the series of mirrors design for Magis by Inga Sempé, who brings back the meaning of color in Medieval cathedrals with a minimal style. Technology becomes a means to make production democratic: the frame is no longer made in lead but created using caoutchouc.