Delivering Bent & Specialist Glass with Excellence

Overview of our Business

Glasshape®, established in 1986, is a leading innovator, designer, and manufacturer of bent, tempered (toughened), 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 of 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 DurashieldMarine® marine grade glass, TemperShield® bent tempered glass, AmmoShield® and ArmourShield® attack resistant glass, StormShield® cyclone-resistant glass, and VisionInk® digitally printed ceramic inks.

Glasshape’s History

Borne out of 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.

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 the manufacture of superior windscreens for the marine industry. This led 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 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 honored to have the Prime Minister of New Zealand the Rt. Hon. John Key officially open the new facilities on November 13, 2015.

By developing and building our own machinery and mold systems, Glasshape has grown from bending glass for upmarket light shades to becoming the largest specialist bent glass manufacturer in Australasia. The next chapter for the business will be shaped by the dozens of highly skilled dedicated glass professionals employed at Glasshape today.