CGW Signature: Dhanggal

Yuwaalaraay wirringgaa Lucy Simpson is Creative Director and Principal Designer/Maker behind Gaawaa Miyay, A First Nations design studio inspired by country, relationships and notions of continuity and exchange.  

The glass Dhanggal takes its form from the freshwater mussel shell, a large bivalve mollusc. Handmade in collaboration with glass artists at Canberra Glassworks, each piece is individually cast using an 80-year-old shell collected from a parched riverbed within the Murray Darling Basin in Northwestern New South Wales. This shell was one of more than 2 million mussels that perished between 2017 - 2020 at the height of the drought. Lucy sees each individual shell as a record of time and place, a tactile vessel etched with memory.  

Ranging from translucent to opaque, black to white, pure to gritty, this subtle yet striking collection has been designed to convey a sense of fragility within our natural world and importance of balance and belonging.   

MATERIALS: hot cast glass handmade in Australia  

Due to the handmade nature of this product, dimensions may vary slightly on each piece which is what makes them uniquely yours.  

CARE INSTRUCTIONS: hand wash only in warm soapy water.