The Glass That Vanishes: Kurt Josef Zalto, Josephinenhütte, and the Pursuit of Pure Perception.

There are designers who create objects, and there are those who recalibrate perception itself. Kurt Josef Zalto has long belonged to the latter category - a figure less concerned with form as spectacle than with form as a conduit for attention. His work has never sought to decorate the ritual of drinking, but to refine it, to pare it back until nothing remains between the liquid and the senses but a barely perceptible membrane of craft. What emerges is not a style, but a philosophy: an insistence that the highest function of design may be to step aside.

With Josephinenhütte, that ethos has taken on an almost metaphysical clarity. These glasses feel less like products than propositions - asking what happens when an object is designed not to impress the eye, but to sharpen the act of noticing. Their presence recalls the literary precision of Marcel Proust, for whom sensation was never passive but revelatory, or the disciplined lightness championed by Italo Calvino, who understood that true delicacy is the result of ruthless structural intelligence. Zalto’s work operates in a similar territory: one where reduction becomes a form of generosity, and restraint becomes an instrument of depth.

Proof that sometimes the most influential designer in the room is the one quietly pretending he’s just here for a glass of wine.

Yet to frame Josephinenhütte purely in aesthetic terms would miss its deeper ambition. The project is not simply about glass, but about tempo - about slowing gestures, focusing the hand, and restoring a degree of attentiveness that contemporary culture has largely surrendered to speed and visual saturation. In this sense, Zalto’s glasses belong as much to the history of sensory philosophy as to that of design: they echo the quiet conviction, shared by thinkers from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to modern phenomenologists, that perception is never neutral, and that the tools we use to encounter the world subtly shape what the world becomes.

To speak with Zalto, then, is to encounter a designer who treats glass not as an endpoint but as a threshold - a medium through which wine, touch, memory, and attention are allowed to align. What unfolds is a conversation not only about vessels, but about presence itself: how it is lost, how it is recovered, and how, sometimes, it can be held - almost weightlessly - in the curve of a hand-blown form.

Josephinenhütte does not present itself as an object of spectacle, but as an instrument of perception. When you began shaping the original glass, what were you trying to remove from the wine-drinking experience as much as what you were trying to enhance?

Kurt Josef Zalto: For the past decades, it has been my goal to create the perfect wine glass. To do so, I had to remove everything that stands between the wine and the senses. Thick glass, visual noise, unnecessary weight - all of that distracts. What I wanted to enhance was the purity of perception. At Josephinenhütte, every design decision serves one purpose: creating forms that let exceptional wines and spirits express their true character with unparalleled nuance and clarity. We call this philosophy “The Shape of Taste”.

The Josephine glass is as thin and light as possible, almost to the point where it feels as if you are holding the wine itself and not an object. I am proud to say that Josephine is the best glass I have ever created.

The distinctive tension in the bowl – that subtle inflection often described as a “kink” - feels both highly intuitive and quietly radical. How did you arrive at this form, and what does it allow the wine to do that a more orthodox silhouette cannot?

Kurt Josef Zalto: The “kink” isn’t a design feature, it is the result of long observation and testing. Wine is alive - and only the right vessel lets it unfold its full potential. Traditional silhouettes often guide wine too predictably. This subtle “kink” creates a controlled turbulence inside the glass, allowing the wine to aerate and release its unique aroma.

Rather than designing for grape varieties or regions, Josephinenhütte glasses are conceived around aromatic architecture and movement. Can you describe how you translate something as ephemeral as aroma, volatility and flow into a fixed physical form?

Kurt Josef Zalto: When creating a new glass, I observe how the liquid flows along a surface, where it gathers, where it breaks. The glass becomes a landscape: inclines, curves, tensions. Nothing is arbitrary. The physical form is fixed, but it enables movement - and movement is what ultimately carries aroma.

Where subtle curves meet unmistakable presence - a lineup that doesn’t just hold liquid, it holds attention.

Your work sits at the intersection of empirical testing and sensory intuition. How do you balance measurable performance - aeration, oxygenation, diffusion - with the more elusive, emotional dimensions of taste and touch?

Kurt Josef Zalto: Measurement is essential, but it is never sufficient. You can calculate aeration and oxygen contact, but you cannot measure elegance or emotional resonance. My process always moves back and forth: empirical testing, then sensory confirmation. If a glass performs perfectly on paper but feels wrong in the hand or interrupts intimacy with the wine, it fails. Touch, balance and emotion are a vital part of the glass’s performance.

Josephinenhütte draws on a glassmaking heritage that dates back to the 19th century, yet the brand feels distinctly contemporary. How do you engage with that legacy without becoming constrained by nostalgia or tradition for its own sake?

Kurt Josef Zalto: The historical Josephinenhütte was never about nostalgia; it was about craftsmanship and innovation in its time. That spirit is what inspires us. We respect heritage by continuing its attitude, not by copying its forms.

Each glass is mouth-blown by a very small group of highly specialised artisans. What does this level of human involvement introduce into the object - conceptually and experientially - that could never be replicated through industrial precision alone?

Kurt Josef Zalto: The creation of each of our glasses resembles a precisely executed dance choreography - a team of up to eight artisans working together in perfect harmony. Human hands introduce subtle irregularities, and with them, life. Each mouth-blown glass carries intention, concentration, soul. You feel it immediately when you pick it up. Industrial precision can reproduce dimensions, but it cannot reproduce the human touch.

There is a quiet confidence in Josephinenhütte’s refusal to over-explain itself. How intentional is this restraint, and what do you believe is lost when design becomes overly didactic or prescriptive?

Kurt Josef Zalto: This restraint is intentional. I believe objects should speak through use, not explanation. When design becomes too didactic, it limits discovery. For us at Josephinenhütte, it is about creating special glass-to-lips moments. Wine itself does not explain - it reveals. The same should be true for a glass as the enabler of that revelation.

Much of your audience comprises sommeliers, winemakers and deeply knowledgeable drinkers. How has dialogue with these communities shaped the evolution of the collection, and where have you deliberately chosen not to follow consensus?

Kurt Josef Zalto: As a glass designer, dialogue with sommeliers, winemakers and wine lovers has proven invaluable, especially because these experts are extremely sensitive to nuance. When a new glass concept is born, I create slightly nuanced prototypes and test them with my team and trusted professionals. I listen. I weigh the feedback. I refine when needed. However, consensus is not a design brief - and it should never be a designer’s guiding principle.

With the expansion into decanters and fine-dining contexts, Josephinenhütte has begun to articulate a broader table culture. What role do you believe objects play in shaping not just taste, but the tempo and attentiveness of a shared moment?

Kurt Josef Zalto: Objects can set rhythm. A well-balanced glass slows the hand, focuses the gesture, invites attention. It can change the entire tempo of a table. When an object demands care, the moment becomes more conscious, and taste becomes more vivid, because presence does. Design, in this sense, shapes behaviour quietly, but powerfully.

Looking forward, how do you see Josephinen evolving in a world increasingly driven by speed, scale and visual novelty - and what principles will remain non-negotiable as the brand continues to grow?

Kurt Josef Zalto: In a world that’s moving faster and faster, our role is to create moments that resist acceleration - with objects that reward patience, presence and attentiveness. That won’t change. We will never compete on speed, scale, or visual spectacle. What’s non-negotiable is sensory excellence, craftsmanship, and uncompromising quality.

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Words and questions by AW.

Answers courtesy of Kurt Josef Zalto.

Photos courtesy of Josephinenhütte.