Dezeen Magazine

Fluxus by Karim Rashid and Michela Vianello

Designer Karim Rashid and artist Michela Vianello have designed a one-off, Murano glass light for Italian lighting brand Andromeda.

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The piece covers 60 square metres and consists of 80,000 individual glass elements graduating from black to white.

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Rashid designed the hand-made, interlocking glass modules, called Knit, which Vianello assembled as this flowing form.

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The glass structure is suspended by a mirrored-steel frame and is illuminated by 500 halogen lamps distributed across the internal surface of the sculpture.

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The installation was created for the White Gallery lifestyle store in Rome, Italy, due to open in October.

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Here are further details from Andromeda:

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Andromeda presents Fluxus, the wave of light and glass

From the Knit element to Fluxus artwork: thanks to the cooperation between Karim Rashid and Artist Michela Vianello, Andromeda defines a new aesthetic expression of motion in space.

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A world preview of the new artwork by Andromeda: Fluxus, a wavering Murano glass sculpture created to adorn White Gallery the first big lifestyle store to be opened in Rome in October 2009.

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Fluxus is the result of the cooperation between designer Karim Rashid who designed the Knit - individual hand-made glass element - and Artist Michela Vianello, whose inspiration gave concrete shape to the overall concept of the sculpture.

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The use of a single design element in an artistic context led up to a suspended and apparently fluid surface consisting of a multitude of elements whose balance derives from the overall composing motion: a fabric of energy flowing through points and lines, creating marked paths and colours able to generate the expression of motion in space.

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The sole Knit element covers a recurrence of overtones: white to black passing through 3 nuances of grey to transmit constant visual vibrations. The colour moves continuously in the optical space between the sculpture and the observer capturing an ever-changing three-dimensional effect in its endless harmonization.

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Technical characteristics of Fluxus are outstanding: it covers a surface area of 60 m², using 80,000 handmade glass Knit elements in 5 colors. 6000 kg of glass, steel and technology. The structure consists of mirrored hand shaped metal tracks, creating a perpetual sense of an unfinished spiral movement. Running on these tracks are fine cross-beams to which the Knit elements are anchored, attached one by one by means of a technical device created to an original Andromeda design. The lighting is provided by 5000 punctiform halogen lamps distributed in a network across the internal surface of the wave.Two years of research, seven months of development process were necessary to define a new environment where art, design and the highest manual skills dialogue. The result is a swinging – illusory -  sculpture.