Worked-glass color at production-beaker money
Wig wag reversals — those hypnotic, ribbon-candy swirls of layered color — are one of the signature techniques of American worked glass, and they usually live on pieces priced like rent. MAV Glass's 19-inch Wig Wag Reversal UFO Tall Beaker puts the technique where more people can actually own it: a $99 double-chamber beaker where the second chamber carries a worked UFO reversal perc, wrapping real wig wag colorwork around functional glass.
The format is pure MAV — a tall LA-built beaker with an ice pinch and splash guard — but the reversal perc chamber turns the middle of the piece into the visual centerpiece, colors spiraling around the UFO disc every time the chamber fills. It ships with a matching worked bowl, so the color story carries through the whole setup. For under a hundred dollars from MAV's own store, that is an unusual amount of glasswork per dollar.
Specs
- Height: 19 inches tall
- Chambers: beaker base plus a second smoke chamber housing the worked UFO reversal perc
- Colorwork: wig wag reversal technique on the perc chamber
- Extras: ice pinch for stacking cubes; splash guard at the top to keep water out of the pull
- Build: thick glass construction, built as a durable daily driver
- Includes: matching worked bowl
- Made by: MAV Glass, Los Angeles — 10+ years of production glass
- Price: $99.00, in stock direct from MAV at time of sourcing
This beaker suits the smoker who wants heady-glass character without heady-glass anxiety. If you have admired wig wag work at glass shows but could never justify collector pricing for a piece you would actually use daily, this is the entry point: the technique is real, the piece is production-built, and at $99 you will actually let your friends hit it.
Functionally, the double-chamber layout earns its height — smoke works through the beaker water, then through the UFO perc's added diffusion, then past ice if you stack the pinch, arriving cool after nineteen inches of travel. The splash guard is the detail tall-bong veterans will appreciate; nobody wins when perc water reaches the mouthpiece.
It is a home piece through and through — nineteen inches does not travel — and it rewards a spot where light hits the reversal work. Skip it if you want minimalist clear glass; this piece is loud on purpose.
The math on this piece is what makes it a feature. Worked reversal percs involve genuine bench time — layering, twisting, and shaping colored glass — which is why wig wag pieces from independent artists routinely price in the several-hundreds.
MAV, running production scale out of Los Angeles for over a decade, gets the technique onto a $99 beaker without gutting the fundamentals: the build is thick, the beaker footprint is stable, and the functional stack (dual chambers, UFO diffusion, ice pinch, splash guard) is complete rather than decorative. The matched bowl is the finishing touch — mismatched hardware is the fastest way to cheapen worked glass, and MAV ships the set color-coordinated out of the box.
MAV also calls this one of the smoothest, hardest-hitting beakers in its lineup, and the architecture backs the claim: two chambers and a worked perc is a lot of filtration for two digits. When the brand's own catalog is full of $119 logo beakers, $99 for the wig wag chamber piece is the value pick hiding in plain sight.
Wig wag is heritage. The reversal technique traces through decades of American pipe-making — it is part of the visual language that made US functional glass a genuine art movement, the swirling patterns you see in museum retrospectives of the craft. What is culturally interesting about MAV's take is the democratization: a working LA glass company translating a collector technique into production glass, the way streetwear translated runway ideas into pieces people actually wear.
That translation keeps the culture healthy — the kid whose first worked piece is a $99 MAV beaker is tomorrow's collector commissioning independent artists. MAV has earned credibility for exactly this move, spending 10+ years building honest glass out of Los Angeles at prices the community can reach. For The High Rise catalog, this piece pairs perfectly with MAV's Top City LA beaker: one reps the city, this one reps the craft.
Together they show why LA production glass matters — accessible, functional, and never boring.