Using Mirrors to Extend and Transform Interiors

Written by Giovana Martino | Translated by Diogo Simões
Published on April 16, 2023

One of the most common decorative objects in projects, mirrors have existed since the Badarian civilization, around 4,000 BC. With several transformations in its material and manufacture, the mirror is a decorative object and can also serve as a design strategy.

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The first mirrors found are personal objects made manually by polishing metals such as copper or silver. During the Middle Ages, mirrors were made from a mercury solution and a sheet of glass. Today, mirrors are manufactured industrially from a chemical solution using silver as a base. Their industrialization allowed them to gain larger dimensions and other functions beyond being an object of personal use, being able to be used in industry, science and architecture.

In architecture, mirrors were a decorative element in palaces and mansions. Still, the object remained as a rigid plate that could be applied to a wall, almost as a covering. Nowadays, interior architecture revisits the mirror as a decorative object, taking advantage of it in inventive ways, often to convey a feeling of amplitude in spaces.