The artistic design label PRASKLO consists of the artistic duo of Petra Švejdarová and Klára Vaculíková, who have been building their brand on the Czech scene since 2016. PRASKLO produces unique vases and other objects made of waste glass and concrete. Instead of limited editions, each of PRASKLO’s vases is an original with its own story, always made just once. Švejdarová and Vaculíková’s creations grow out of their fascination with stone as an elementary natural material, including its structure and the various forms it can take.

Beyond Time is presented in GASK’s Whitebox exhibition space in the form of a down-to-earth site-specific installation inspired not just by nature but also by brutalist architecture. Placed on a central concrete object reminiscent of a giant rock, the exhibited vases blend the beauty of minimalism with the randomness of organic shapes, in reference to the primitive origins of stone. As the title indicates, the exhibition presents processes and approaches that go against the flow of time. It does so by using ‘obsolete’, discarded glass and glass objects, which the artists give new life. This up-cycling of glass, reworked in PRASKLO’s aesthetic spirit and in dialogue with concrete made from the rubble of demolished buildings, lends the glass objects a new utilitarian and aesthetic function. Everything is done traditionally, ‘in the old way’, without the use of 3D computer technology. This direct manual working of the material infuses PRASKLO’s objects with a kind of ancient or even archaic energy.

In the exhibition’s intimate twilit atmosphere, the stories of old things provide viewers with an opportunity to apply their fantasy and imagination. In this way, the charm of the imperfect and unusual, yet magical and captivating, is celebrated in all its unassuming simplicity.

A brief history of PRASKLO:

Although Petra Švejdarová created her first vases from glass and concrete as far back as 2015, it wasn’t until the following year at Czech Design Week 2016 that she presented herself as Prasklo. Klára Vaculíková joined later, in 2019, but her influence and both women’s subsequent synergy contributed to their intense building of the brand. Since then, Prasklo has gained adherents among the general public and industry representatives alike. In 2019 the brand was nominated for best product at Prague Design Week, and in 2020 three of Prasklo’s vases were among a narrow selection of works shown as part of TRENDS 2020, a survey of the most significant trends in international design at the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Prasklo is highly popular among Japanese and Korean collectors, most probably because its designs resonate with Eastern aesthetic ideas derived from the concept of wabi-sabi. The company is also represented by the Código Design gallery in the Portuguese town of Porto and can be found in the Belgian-Shanghai collection L’Etincelle.

Petra Švejdarová attended the Secondary Trade School of Packaging Techniques in Štětí, followed by the study of object and glass art under Jakub Berdych at the Scholastika College in Prague. Klára Vaculíková initially earned a degree from the Faculty of Law at Prague’s Charles University, after which she studied photography at TAFE NSW in Sydney, Australia. They are partners in business and in life, and their love is reflected in PRASKLO’s unique energy.