About Us
Delivering Bent & Specialist Glass with Excellence
Overview of our Business
Glasshape®, established in 1986, is a leading innovator, designer and manufacturer of bent, toughened (tempered), laminated and digital ceramic print specialty glass. Family owned and based in Auckland, New Zealand, Glasshape’s philosophy of growth through innovation, ingenuity and customer service sees it deliver best-in-class glazing solutions in a variety of categories, with notable success in marine, architectural (residential and commercial), cyclonic, high security and heavy machinery projects.
Constantly Improving
Consistently investing in technology and the capacity to meet the increasing demands from architects, designers and their clients, Glasshape designs and supplies certified bent and flat glass, either monolithic or laminated, for almost any setting. With Australian offices in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne, and headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, Glasshape provides customer-centric solutions with an international reach.
Our brands are lauded and respected for the quality and craftsmanship they represent and include Durashield Marine® marine grade glass, TemperShield® bent toughened (tempered) glass, AmmoShield® and ArmourShield® attack resistant glass, StormShield® cyclone resistant glass and VisionInk® digitally printed ceramic inks.
Watch “Our Guarantee To You” Video
Glasshape's History
Borne out of a curiosity with how decorative glass ‘petals’ for desk lamps were produced, Glasshape’s early leadership team realized a significant opportunity for larger format applications existed such as windscreens for ambulances, buses, and the marine sector, together with food-bends for the catering industry. The main challenge though was efficiencies – capital investment and production times escalated costs hindering the appeal of the product. This led the engineers at Glasshape to invent their own manufacturing equipment.
The new furnaces operated on a different principle, with quicker production at a fraction of the cost of internationally available furnaces at the time. This provided Glasshape with a very competitive edge over other glass benders in New Zealand.
1986
Established
1995
Mastered the art of bent glass, an innovative step forward for the building industry
2000
Developed process to bend complex curves in 3D
2007
$2m expansion with specialist, water jet cut machinery to bend and toughen glass
2016
30th Anniversary of Glasshape
By 1995 we had mastered the art of bonding two panels of bent glass with resin, certified to AS/NZS 2208 – the required safety standard for the use of laminated glass in buildings. This was a major development that delivered a future with huge potential as the use of bent glass as an architectural product was new to the building industry.
In 2000, Glasshape developed processes to bend complex curves in 3D enabling manufacture of superior windscreens for the marine industry. This led on to the automotive market with certification to American Land Transport Standard ANSI Z 26-1 being achieved making it possible to supply automotive screens internationally.
2007 brought a $2m expansion with the installation of specialist machinery to bend and toughen (temper) glass and another to water jet cut glass. Glasshape is well known internationally for its unique ‘glass laboratory’ philosophy. Worldwide, companies’ approach Glasshape to design, test and manufacture specialist glass products to suit particular challenging applications.
2016 marks the 30th anniversary of Glasshape and the culmination of a three-year, substantial investment program significantly expanding the capabilities and capacity of the business to better serve its rapidly growing export market. The business was honoured to have the Prime Minister of New Zealand the Rt. Hon. John Key officially open the new facilities on November 13, 2015.