Osmosis by Arik Levy

5 April 2009

Milan 09: Israeli designer Arik Levy will present Osmosis, a collaboration with rapid prototyping company .MGX by Materialise, in Milan later this month.

The crystal-inspired pieces will be shown at the Swarovski Crystal Palace exhibition at Via Savona 56 in Zona Tortona, from 22-27 April.

Here's a statement from Levy followed by a press release from .MGX by Materialise:

“Osmosis: Through the membrane of experiencing the transition from real to virtual, from solid to a metaphor, visual and emotional perception transforms.

The Osmosis from the urban landscape in to the installation space opens up a journey to the micro, macro expression of architectural products and techno-craft existence.

I keep on travelling between technology and art, design and reflection, engineering and light…Swarovski master cutter daily environment and magic. Searching for the exchange platform to experiment, explore and revile boundaries of both stone cutting metaphor as well as the semi permeable bridge to my own work.

Going from the sculpture to space, environmental landscape and tangible product this body of work brings out a bio-mimicry of Osmosis.”

.MGX by Materialise has collaborated with Arik Levy to create a ground-breaking new exhibition which will be revealed at the Swarovski Crystal Palace during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.

The exhibition, entitled “Osmosis”, will run from April 22 to 27th, and was inspired by the unique concept of crystal. The revolutionary .MGX rapid prototyping technologies enabled Levy to create an installation that travels between art and technology, design and engineering as well as reflection and light.

“With the natural process of crystallizing as a metaphoric base, and wanting to create formations that integrated the Chaton crystal cut, working with .MGX and 3D printing was evident. Only this technology permits the exploitation and visualization of these genetically modified sculpture formations. .MGX is my constant technology partner and it is this collaboration that allowed me to transform my ideas into reality”, explains Levy.

Designer, technician, artist, photographer, and filmmaker, Arik Levy is known for his range of multi-disciplinary roles. The relationship between Levy and .MGX is a long-standing one. His creations, including the Silver_Honey.MGX and Minishakes.MGX, are a part of the .MGX design collection, and a special edition of Handshake can be seen at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. And while Levy is known for his many awards, outstanding international museum pieces, and furniture design for global companies, he nevertheless feels that “the world is about people, not tables and chairs.”

Now in its eighth year, the Swarovski Crystal Palace aims to create signature interpretations of light and design using the emotive medium of cut crystal.

Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan — April 22-27

Osmosis: Swarovski Crystal Palace
Via Savona 56 — Zona Tortona (Milan), Italy

See all our stories from Milan in our special MIlan 2009