Cutting Against The Grain: The NextGen Alchemy of Nachtmann and MUCNYC.

For close to 200 years, Nachtmann has stood as a paragon of Bavarian glassmaking - a house where clarity, symmetry, and tactile elegance are not just aesthetic choices but the outcome of generational mastery. Its legacy is one of exacting standards and artisanal continuity, shaped by a commitment to both technical perfection and material integrity. Yet embedded within this tradition is an unexpected restlessness - a willingness to question, to evolve, and to place its storied craftsmanship in conversation with the visual languages of now.

When Crystal Gets a Mohawk: Nachtmann’s Punk Collection Breaks the Mold.

This spirit of productive tension finds its most dynamic expression in NextGen, Nachtmann’s forward-facing design platform launched in 2007. More than a mentorship program, NextGen functions as a cultural and pedagogical laboratory - an international initiative that partners with leading design academies across Tokyo, New York, London, Prague, and Sydney to incubate new forms of expression within crystal. Here, the past is neither static nor sacred; rather, it becomes a site of exploration, inviting emerging designers to engage directly with Nachtmann’s historic techniques while questioning what those techniques can mean in a contemporary context.

By offering young creatives access to the brand’s deep technical infrastructure - including its advanced manufacturing facilities in Neustadt an der Waldnaab - NextGen allows for a rare collision: the experimental energy of academic studios with the precision of industrial production. The result is not simply new objects, but new typologies of glassware that stretch the limits of utility, ornament, and cultural relevance.

Founded in 2007, NextGen is neither a trend exercise nor a marketing flourish. It is a sustained and deeply generative program that has partnered with leading art and design institutions - from Tokyo to Prague, New York to Sydney - creating a space where young designers are encouraged to push against the formal and functional expectations of crystal. The results are often unexpected: forms that oscillate between sculpture and serviceware, textures that defy the medium’s polished reputation, and concepts that reflect a shifting cultural understanding of luxury - one less tied to opulence than to resonance, relevance, and risk.

Pour with attitude - this isn’t just crystal, it’s a rebel in disguise.

At the heart of this ongoing experiment is MUCNYC, a cross-continental design studio led by Stefanie Kubanek and Michael Geldmacher. MUCNYC’s role is both catalytic and curatorial - guiding student vision into manufacturable reality, while preserving the conceptual integrity that gives each collection its edge. Kubanek, with decades of experience straddling the fields of design education, consultancy, and product development, has been instrumental in shaping NextGen’s pedagogical ethos: one that privileges criticality and experimentation as much as technical excellence.

In this context, collections like Punk emerge not as stylistic detours but as precise provocations - gestures that question the codes of refinement without rejecting them entirely. They mark a shift in how we understand both crystal and craft: not as static legacies, but as evolving discourses that can accommodate subversion, attitude, and even a touch of rebellion.

What follows is not merely an interview. It is an exploration of creative thresholds - the space where discipline meets disruption, where tradition is not erased but reimagined and the ways MUCNYC is hoping to shape and support the future of design.

1. Was Punk an intentional act of aesthetic rebellion?

Stefanie Kubanek: Absolutely. The Punk collection, designed by Anke Buchmann in 2016 while she was a student at Central Saint Martins in London, was very much an intentional act of aesthetic rebellion. Anke was immersed in an academic environment that actively encouraged experimental thinking and conceptual edge. Within that context, she felt an almost instinctive urge to push back - drawing directly from the raw, visceral language of Punk culture. Her early sketches were literal interpretations of studs, spikes, and grid patterns.

But what made the project truly compelling was her decision to move beyond these direct references. Rather than simply mimicking Punk's iconography, she absorbed its energy and allowed it to reshape form itself. She interrogated Nachtmann's long-standing relationship with pattern and texture and merged that legacy with a subversive spirit. The result was a body of work that challenged not just the aesthetics of crystal, but its conventions as a medium. It marked Punk’s 40th anniversary by articulating a sophisticated tension between rebellion and refinement - something increasingly resonant across both design and fashion, where the intersection of subversion and luxury continues to captivate.

2. How would you describe the design language of Punk?

Stefanie Kubanek: At the heart of Punk is a compelling duality: disruption balanced by discipline. The visual language is intentionally jarring - there’s movement, sharpness, texture, even aggression - but it's all counterbalanced by Nachtmann’s precision-cut craftsmanship. Every surface tension, every asymmetry is meticulously executed. This push and pull between chaos and control creates a palpable energy in the pieces.

That tension is something we aim to cultivate across the NextGen collections. We’re always seeking that intersection where experimental form meets the heritage of tactile excellence. It’s not about being radical for its own sake - it’s about being radically thoughtful.

3. Why choose crystal in an age dominated by minimalism and digital aesthetics?

Stefanie Kubanek: Crystal possesses an inherent gravitas - something minimalism often forfeits in pursuit of reduction. It carries with it a physicality, a sense of permanence, and a rich material history. It refracts light, engages the senses, and demands a certain presence. In contrast to today’s ephemeral, screen-based visual culture, crystal is an invitation to slow down - to notice texture, weight, and the interplay of light and shadow.

Through NextGen, we ask: What happens when a material steeped in tradition is handed over to a new generation of creatives unburdened by those traditions? Since its inception in 2007, the initiative has allowed young designers from Prague, Tokyo, New York, London, Sydney, and beyond to rethink crystal’s role. The results are often unexpected - objects that reflect not only new aesthetic ideas but new modes of living and interacting with design. It’s about shaping relevance, not simply preserving legacy.

4. Has mentoring through NextGen influenced your own creative practice?

Stefanie Kubanek: Deeply. Working with young designers has a way of revealing the assumptions you didn’t know you were making. Their perspective is unfiltered, their courage uncalibrated - and that’s powerful. It forces you to stay agile, to reframe your approach, and to remember what it feels like to work from instinct rather than experience.

It’s a constant exchange. We offer them access to tools, infrastructure, and industry context, and they remind us to ask “why not?” more often. That reciprocity keeps our studio evolving in ways that are both challenging and energising.

5. Tell us about MUCNYC and its role in the collaboration.

Brains, Borders, and Bold Design - Stefanie Kubanek’s World in Motion.

Stefanie Kubanek: MUCNYC was founded in 2019 by myself and Michael Geldmacher as a platform for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Our studio operates between Munich and New York, reflecting the kind of cultural and creative exchange we value. At our core, we believe that design flourishes when ideas are shared and interrogated across perspectives.

Before that, I launched Kubanek Design + in 2010, which focused on blending strategic thinking with material innovation. With over two decades of experience in design education and consultancy, I’ve always been interested in how emerging voices can intersect with established industry structures. That’s why launching NextGen while teaching at Parsons back in 2007 was so important - it laid the foundation for what MUCNYC continues to do today: nurture next-generation creativity while anchoring it in real-world production and legacy craftsmanship.

6. How do you see the concept of luxury evolving today?

Stefanie Kubanek: Luxury today is far more nuanced than material excess. It’s increasingly defined by intentionality - by objects that provoke, that carry emotional or cultural weight, that ask something of the user. With the Punk collection, we weren’t interested in surface polish or conventional elegance. We wanted to provoke reflection. What does refinement mean? Can something aggressive still be beautiful? Can rebellion itself be luxurious?

We’re seeing a shift towards products that are deeply personal, meaningful, and conceptually engaging. In that sense, Punk isn’t just a crystal collection - it’s a commentary.

7. What continues to drive your creative curiosity?

Stefanie Kubanek: I’m endlessly fascinated by the intersection of digital and tactile design - how emerging technologies can enhance or disrupt traditional materials like glass. Whether it's through advanced 3D modelling, algorithmic form generation, or even augmented experiences, there’s so much potential in layering the virtual with the physical.

But perhaps even more inspiring is the continued dialogue with students. They’re not bound by precedent. They bring bold, sometimes outrageous ideas - and that’s exactly where the magic happens. It’s in that unstable, fertile ground between precision and play that we often discover the future of design.

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Words and questions by AW.

Answers by Stefanie Kubanek.

Photos courtesy of Nachtmann and MUCNYC.