I had the opportunity to make 13 of these disco ball coolers for Red Bull. It was a ton of work, but they are so dazzingly beautiful!
These making of these fully functioning mosaic coolers started when I was approached by a product design company to make a prototype for Red Bull. I purchased the hand-cut mirrored glass from an artist on Etsy and worked hard to make sure it aligned properly as I worked my way around the cooler. The first supplier I used had almost perfect cuts, but a few coolers in, she had some family issues and couldn’t cut the thousands of mosaic tiles I needed per cooler anymore. The second supplier was wonderful, but the cuts weren’t as accurate, so I had to plan ahead a lot more.
In addition to keeping the glass in straight lines, I also had to use a specific mirror bit on my grinder to bevel the edges. These were to be used in nightclubs, so the edges had to be smooth so that bartenders didn’t get cut. You can’t use a regular grinder bit because the backing of the mirror flakes off. The mirror grinder bevels both sides to create a smooth, un-chipped edge.
It was so hard and tedious making these coolers, especially because I had to use a toxic adhesive and wear an organic vapor respirator even during some extreme heat waves, but it was worth it. I found out later that the product design company made dozens of prototypes for Red Bull products, but this is the only one that moved forward into production. I was lucky!
