Unusual Blown Glass Fish Bowls By Roger Arquer.

This project presents fifteen different pieces that explore variations of the iconic image of a fishbowl. Each piece examines a topic or suggests a solution to a different issue, as human qualities are being attributed to a fish.





Thoughtful and yet playful, the hand blown glass FishBowls relate with Birdland and MouseTraps, two previous projects by Roger Arquer that also explore variations.

Under Candlelight tells us about candlelight floating on water for a romantic evening:


XS or XL tells us about relationships between big and small fish living together:



Dear Neighbor tells us about the delicate relationships we have with our close neighbors:


Pure Life tells us about purifying the water directly when refilling the bowl:



Chill Out / Warm Up tells us about how we can control water temperature adding hot water or ice in the small receptacle:


Russian Dolls tell us about how big the fish wants to grow. If it stays in the small bowl, the fish will keep small. If it goes to the big, it will grow:



Bottle Vase tells us about how we use objects for another purposes other than their original function:


Private Matters tells us about privacy for the fish:



Hanging From a String tells us about playfulness in an apparently threatening situation:


Do Not Piss Me Off tells us about the power to decide between the life and death of the fish:


Above Water tells us about sharing the water between the fish bowl and the plant:


Wishing Well tells us about cultural traditions related to throwing coins on wells or fountains:



About The Artist:

Roger Arquer was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1975. Graduated in Design at ESDI, Barcelona (1994-1998). A year after his graduation, he moved to New York City (1999-2003) to work as industrial designer. After New York, he moved to London to attend an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (2003-2005). During the summer break in RCA he worked as designer in Zurich (Switzerland). He set up his own design practice in London after RCA.

Since he was student he has received design awards, such as Opus Design Award (Japan), Coram Design (Netherlands), Adi-Fad (Barcelona), RCA Society/Thames Hudson Book Prize (London), among others.

He also has been exhibiting his work: Design Mart Design Museum (2005-6), British Council Design Exhibition (Milan 2005), aRChAeology at Royal College of Art (London 2005), or Park and Products at Serpentine Gallery (London 2004), On/Off Design Experience (Seoul 2005), among others.

all text and images courtesy of the artist.
Roger Arquer



In a funny little coinkidink, today's Google Doodle also takes place underwater where the fishies live, be sure to check out the post on the interactive Jules Verne homage here.

Modern Glass Vessels / Fish Tanks By Vanessa Mitrani

above: The No Limits Bowl, glass and porcelain.

Amongst her large repertoire of work, French artist Vanessa Mitrani creates beautiful and functional hand-blown glass decorative vessels that can also function as fish tanks or fishbowls.

The latest of these objets d'art/aquariums is her No Limits Collection which features porcelain or aluminum cast fish half in and half out of their glass surroundings. As if escaping from their habitats, the fish create a sort of optical illusion, floating between their world of captivity and ours.

Dish (glass and porcelain):

Round bowl and Giant Cylinder (glass and porcelain):

In addition to the larger pieces (shown above) that can actually be used as aquariums, the collection includes a vase, water glasses, mugs and cups:


Her Aquarius Collection has been featured in various magazines and on design blogs touting their modern shape and convergence of nature and design.

Simple and Double:

Panoramic and Bottles:

Building and a recent piece from Salone del Mobil (name unknown):


And finally, her Oxygen Collection consists of two pieces; a large and small version of fused round bowls that appear as connected bubbles, weightless and suspended in air.



Glasssware is only a small part of Vanessa Mitrani's work. She also designs textiles, display products for merchandisers and works in porcelain. She has an impressive client list, having created pieces for Salviati, Ligne Roset and Roche Bobois, to name a few. Many of her pieces are carried by exclusive galleries or high end boutiques.

About the artist:

Vanessa Mitrani trained in furniture design at ENSAD, under the tutelage of Jean Claude Maugirard, spent a year at ADAC studios and worked with with the glass artist Pedro Veloso.

After graduating from ENSAD in 1999 she embarked on a professional career, the following year obtaining the VIA Label and created her first edition of vases for Ligne Roset.

In 2002, she started Vanessa Mitrani Creations which developed original objects, products, furniture design, and produced pieces for Roche Bobois, Salviati, Neiman Marcus, l’Occitane en Provence and the Conran shop. Mitrani also collaborates directly with factories in France, Portugal and India several times a year.


Vanessa Mitrani

Places where you can purchase some of her pieces:
Les Site Des Createurs
The Conran Shop
Roseland Gallery