Method and apparatus for bending a sheet of material into a shaped article

A method for bending a sheet of material into a shaped article, comprising:

• (a) placing a sheet of material having a reformable area and a nonreformable area on a support such that the reformable area does not make contact with the support and the nonreformable area does make contact with the support, the sheet of material being selected from the group consisting of a sheet of glass and a sheet of glass-ceramic;
• (b) heating the reformable area and the non-reformable area of the sheet of material to a first temperature range corresponding to a first viscosity range;
• (c) subsequently locally heating the reformable area of the sheet of material to a second temperature range corresponding to a second viscosity range;
• and
• (d) reforming the reformable area of the sheet of material into a selected shape by (i) sagging the reformable area of the sheet of material while the reformable area is at the second temperature range and (ii) avoiding contact of an object with the sheet of material within the reformable area while the reformable area is at the second temperature range,
• wherein the non-reformable area and the reformable area of the sheet of material are contiguous, wherein the sheet of material in step (a) is flat, and wherein after step (d), the non-reformable area remains flat.