glasé

Glasé is a term that appears in some English-language art and craft writing to describe a glaze finish that yields a glass-like, highly reflective surface. The word is related to the French glacé, meaning glazed or frozen, and in English usage it is sometimes treated as an anglicized variant or loanword rather than a distinct technical category.

In ceramics and porcelain, glasé finishes are coatings applied to the surface and then fired to create a vitreous layer. The resulting glaze can be transparent, translucent, or opaque, and may be built up in multiple layers. Artists and manufacturers may use overglazes, metallic oxides, or special frits to achieve lustrous, glassy effects that are described in catalogs or exhibition notes as glasé surfaces.

In glassmaking, the concept of glasé can refer to a glaze-like treatment on glass components or to enamel-like frit applications that, when fired, produce a smooth, glossy exterior. The terminology is not standardized across the field, and glasé descriptions often appear alongside more common terms such as glaze, glaze finish, or enamel.

Glasé also exists as a surname occurring rarely in European genealogical records. Its exact etymology is not well documented in widely accessible sources, but it may be connected to phonetic variants of glazier-related terms or to the French and English spellings that converge on the same pronunciation.

Overall, glasé is a niche term used primarily within the arts and crafts to convey a glossy, glass-like surface, rather than a broadly defined technical category. See also glaze, glaze finish, glass.