Glass
"Already as a young boy, Bořek Šípek became acquainted with glass and its production through his stepfather René Roubíček, the acclaimed Czech glassmaking artist. "I don't want to be a glassmaking artist. To work with only one material is always a limitation. It can always negatively affect your work. One has to be open to everything. However, glass in my life is imortant as a form of relaxation" says Šípek.
Porcelain
"At the time when many companies are advancing with caution and favouring the saleable and the safe, Bořek Šípek continues to design china and glassware that overturn expectation and defy all precedent except of his own… As a designer, Šípek inhabits some dark fairytale landscape of his own imagining. His pieces are ceremonial trappings imposed on the ordinary routines of everyday life." says Andrée Putman, famous French interior and product designer.
Furniture
"I wanted all my things to be functional. But I didn't want them to be boring. I didn't want the user to get tired of them. I wanted him to uncover their hidden qualities, gimmicks and pleasant surprises slowly and in a step-by-step fashion. Ever since my childhood I've liked wood and I remember that as a teenager I used to curve a lot. Although I always wanted to be an architect, I knew I could always rely on cabinet-making that I graduated from at the high school. I looked at it as something I could fall back on in case my plan to become an architect didn't work out…"
Special Projects
"Bořek Šípek likes to combine precious materials with humble ones, working in metal, wood, marble, glass, iron, ceramics, brass and silk. He can forge metal, blow and etch glass, cast in bronze, upholster and do woodwork, setting up within each piece a dialogue between geometric and organic form. The vigour or power of hand-crafting informs all his pieces…" says Arata Isozaki, reputable Japanese architect.
Illumination
"I give names to all my products. Each piece I make has its history, its own story. And every good story has a beginning and an end. It helps me when I observe the connections between common elements in my work. A chair, sofa, chandelier, lamp, candleholder or vase which is not anonymous has a better chance of finding a customer. And the customer will discover a relationship to it."
Arts
"Šípek does not hesitate for a moment to cross forbidden boundaries and operate in areas most of his colleagues only dare dream of. He is an intuitive designer, gathering impressions from all over, whether in the royal treasury in the Prague castle or in a jolly restaurant in Paris. He combines style elements from Baroque with forms borrowed from nature. He alternates symbolically charged features with aspects taken from everyday life…", wrote Wim de Wagt, the Dutch Art and Architectural Historian.