Curator's notes
We use these glasses in our kitchen for wine, dessert, fruit; pretty much everything. They're the perfect size and shape and they're virtually unbreakable. Stackable for efficient storage (trivia: these glasses are known as gigogne, a little used French word meaning nested). This glass is the ultimate in classic design: it's permanently featured in the musee des arts decoratifs in Paris.
About the Gigogne glass
The French term "gigogne" refers to a specific style of glassware, known as "Gigogne glasses" or "nested glasses." These glasses are designed in a set of multiple glasses that fit inside one another, like nesting dolls. Each glass is of a slightly smaller size, allowing them to stack neatly inside the larger glass.
Gigogne glasses are commonly made of tempered glass, which provides durability and resistance to breakage. The tempered glass construction makes them suitable for both hot and cold beverages.
These glasses are popular in French households, particularly for serving water, juice, or other non-alcoholic drinks. They are often used in cafes, restaurants, and schools due to their practical and stackable nature.
The design of Gigogne glasses offers several benefits:
Space-Saving: The nesting feature allows multiple glasses to be stacked together, which optimizes storage space. It is particularly advantageous for places with limited storage capacity.
Easy Handling: The Gigogne glasses have a simple and ergonomic design, making them easy to hold and serve. The smooth and rounded shape of the glasses provides a comfortable grip.
Durability: Made of tempered glass, Gigogne glasses are resistant to thermal shocks and breakage. This makes them suitable for everyday use, even in busy environments like commercial establishments or households with children.
Versatility: Gigogne glasses can be used for various types of beverages, such as water, juice, soda, and other non-alcoholic drinks. They are also suitable for serving desserts or small portions of food.
Gigogne glasses are available in different sizes, typically ranging from small to large, with capacities varying based on the specific set. They come in various designs and may have features like a rolled rim for easy drinking or stacking.
Overall, Gigogne glasses are a practical and space-saving glassware option commonly found in French households and hospitality settings. Their versatility, durability, and stackable design make them a convenient choice for everyday use.
What is tempered glass?
Tempered glass is a type of safety glass that has been treated through a specialized thermal process known as tempering. This process enhances the strength and durability of the glass while also providing important safety features.
The tempering process involves heating the glass to a high temperature and then rapidly cooling it. This rapid cooling creates internal stresses within the glass, resulting in increased strength and resilience compared to regular annealed glass.
Here are some key characteristics and benefits of tempered glass:
Strength and Durability: Tempered glass is significantly stronger than regular glass. It has a higher resistance to impact and can withstand greater force or pressure before breaking.
Safety: One of the most significant advantages of tempered glass is its safety features. When tempered glass breaks, it shatters into small, relatively harmless pieces with dull edges instead of sharp shards. These small pieces reduce the risk of serious injury.
Thermal Resistance: Tempered glass has excellent thermal resistance, making it suitable for hot or cold use.
Scratch Resistance: Tempered glass is more resistant to scratches and damage compared to regular glass.
We're a small sustainable, family run company based in northern California. We travel the world to bring you beautiful, mostly vintage things and a lot of inspiration for your home.
When we founded our company, we envisioned a small business with a human touch: each beautiful item selected by hand, each order carefully packed by someone who cares, each call and email personally answered by someone who can help, and most of all, each customer treated like a dear friend. And we were committed to giving a little back in the form of support to other small businesses like us, and donations to causes that tug at our heartstrings.
We believe that not making something new is the greenest thing of all, that a small business can make a big difference, that the human touch is a powerful thing, and that working side by side with your family is a really nice way to spend your day.
Meet our team. They're the best.
Occasionally we will earn a commission for products that we recommend on our blog. Our opinions are always our own, and we never recommend a product or service we do not use ourselves.
What we sell
We travel the world in search of ideas, inspiration, and beautiful vintage and hand crafted products for your home and your life from France, Morocco, Belgium and the United States.
Shop our collection of furniture including
cabinets, armoires and buffets
dining tables, farm tables and islands
coffee tables, side tables and console tables
upholstered sofas, couches, loveseats, chairs, chaises and ottomans.
accent furniture such as bistro tables, small dressers, coat racks and bars.
Shop our collection of things for your French kitchen including
cookware and kitchen tools, canning jars
vintage and re-tinned copper pots, pans, stock pots and pitchers
vintage and hand made plates and bowls
vintage flatware : forks, knives, spoons, carving knives and forks, spreaders and special silver pieces
vintage glassware : vintage champagne coupes and flutes for toasting, vintage wine glasses, lovely moroccan tea glasses and unique vintage bar glasses and decanters
table linens: vintage napkins, vintage kitchen towels, linen aprons, and pretty silver napkin rings.
serving platters and bowls, pitchers, tureens, gravy boats and trays
stoneware crocks, vases, pitchers and bowls
vintage silver: silver flatware, champagne buckets, trays and bar tools
Shop our collection of decor including:
art, travel and design books, cookbooks, vintage books
lamps, pendants and chandeliers
coat racks, coat hooks, baskets and totes
beautiful decorative accessories
Shop our collection of textiles including:
washed linen sheets, duvets and pillowcases and bed covers
items for the bath : towels, bath mats, soap dishes, towel racks and hooks, soap, candles, mirrors, trays, stools.
table linens: vintage napkins, vintage kitchen towels, linen aprons, and pretty silver napkin rings.
Shop our collection of vintage art including:
vintage etchings, sketches and drawings
We don't mean to brag, but our collection of vintage & custom furniture as well as lovely decor has made us a stylist and designer favorite. Whether you need one signature piece, or a layer of decor for the final mile, our special pieces can help bring your project to life.
When you join our designer program, you'll receive
15% trade discount
Tax exempt purchasing with resale permit
Support from our Designer Liaison
Private shopping by appointment for you & your client
48 hour approval period
Opportunity to pre-shop new containers
Contact us today with your business license, address telephone and email to get started.
Terms
Registered designers are entitled to receive a 15% discount on all regular priced merchandise listed on our website, or available in our SF area showroom and annex.
We do not combine discounts or promotions, so if shipping is required, we will advise which is most advantageous for you: 15% trade discount or free shipping promotion.
You will note that a small number of items are listed as "local pick up only.." Those items are not eligible for our free shipping promotion.
What we sell
We travel the world in search of ideas, inspiration, and beautiful vintage and hand crafted products for your home and your life from France, Morocco, Belgium and the United States.
Shop our collection of furniture including
cabinets, armoires and buffets
dining tables, farm tables and islands
coffee tables, side tables and console tables
upholstered sofas, couches, loveseats, chairs, chaises and ottomans.
accent furniture such as bistro tables, small dressers, coat racks and bars.
Shop our collection of things for your French kitchen including
cookware and kitchen tools, canning jars
vintage and re-tinned copper pots, pans, stock pots and pitchers
vintage and hand made plates and bowls
vintage flatware : forks, knives, spoons, carving knives and forks, spreaders and special silver pieces
vintage glassware : vintage champagne coupes and flutes for toasting, vintage wine glasses, lovely moroccan tea glasses and unique vintage bar glasses and decanters
table linens: vintage napkins, vintage kitchen towels, linen aprons, and pretty silver napkin rings.
serving platters and bowls, pitchers, tureens, gravy boats and trays
stoneware crocks, vases, pitchers and bowls
vintage silver: silver flatware, champagne buckets, trays and bar tools
Shop our collection of decor including:
art, travel and design books, cookbooks, vintage books
lamps, pendants and chandeliers
coat racks, coat hooks, baskets and totes
beautiful decorative accessories
Shop our collection of textiles including:
washed linen sheets, duvets and pillowcases and bed covers
items for the bath : towels, bath mats, soap dishes, towel racks and hooks, soap, candles, mirrors, trays, stools.
table linens: vintage napkins, vintage kitchen towels, linen aprons, and pretty silver napkin rings.
Shop our collection of vintage art including:
vintage etchings, sketches and drawings
sculpture, busts and hand made ceramics
It is never our intention to make money on shipping. We strive to always be fair and reasonable in both our pricing and our shipping charges.
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We travel the world in search of ideas, inspiration, and beautiful vintage and hand crafted products for your home and your life from France, Morocco, Belgium and the United States.
Shop our collection of furniture including
Shop our collection of things for your French kitchen including
Shop our collection of decor including:
Shop our collection of textiles including:
Shop our collection of vintage art including:
Now that you've decided to invest in a new piece of furniture, let's make sure it fits perfectly in your room.
Follow a general rule of allowing 36" of traffic pattern around an arrangement of furniture for traffic flow.
If you are looking to sit a certain number of people at your table, the size of your chairs is as important as the size of the table. Generally, allow about 20" of length per person (about the width of a placement).
A trestle base will give you more flexibility than four legs to seat more people along each side of the table.
Consider the size of the doors when placing furniture adjacent to a cabinet with doors. You'll want to be able to completely open the cabinet doors without bumping into a nearby piece of furniture.
If your cabinet has to be turned on its side to be carried through a standard door into your room, make sure it will clear the ceiling when it's placed upright. To calculate the diagonal measurement of the cabinet, dust off the Pythagorean Theorem: height of the cabinet squared + width of the cabinet squared = diagonal measurement of the cabinet squared. If the square root of the diagonal measurement is less that your ceiling height, then you're good. If it is more, then the cabinet will not fit into your room unless it is made in two pieces.
For coffee tables, rules are made to be broken, but these three rules should give you some structure to work with: generally speaking, you'll want your coffee table to be roughly the height of your sofa deck (about 20"), roughly 18" from the sofa, and approx. 2/3 the width of the sofa.
As always, if you have questions just contact us. We can help.
