Tony Lake has always been driven by curiosity and a desire to explore the world.

That instinct led him, at just 17, to become a dive instructor in the Caribbean, teaching and guiding divers through underwater environments few people ever experience.

By 20, he had become a commercial pilot and flight instructor, once again gaining access to perspectives and experiences beyond the reach of most.

The aquatic and atmospheric worlds began to merge in his imagination—both fluid, immersive, and saturated with colour.

These environments shaped a visual language that stayed with him long after he returned home.

Back on land, Lake began to envision organic, sculptural forms and set out to bring them into reality. In his mid-twenties, he started working with glass, creating pieces that quickly revealed the limitation of scale. To push beyond it he imagined a new approach, using metal as a structural medium to carry the glass. Insisting that both materials remain organic in form, with glass and metal flowing seamlessly together.

What followed was nearly 25 years of experimentation across countless processes. While progress was often incremental, each failure provided the information needed to move closer to a solution. The central challenge remained unchanged, making the surface of glass precisely mirror the surface of metal. Two fundamentally different materials that behave in completely different ways.

The V1 Rotate Collection is the first showcase of Lake's decades of exploration, problem-solving, and refinement.

Looking ahead, Lake is developing more collections; including large-scale wall installations, extending his sculptural language into the architectural space.