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Shylight nominated for Dutch Design Awards 2015

Shylight has been nominated for the Dutch Design Awards 2015 and we are finalists in the competition. Our Shylight Installation at the Rijksmuseum have been specially nominated. The comittee emphasizes that a strong interaction between the Shylight and the Rijksmuseum is deeply felt in this fascinating interplay between technology and nature. ‘A design that makes a big impression.’

The selection commitee: "Studio Drift lifts lighting to a higher plane with a fascinating interaction of technology and nature. The choreography of unfolding flowers flows seamlessly into the context of the Rijksmuseum and forms an aesthetic dance that has been made accessible for a wide public. A design that leaves a lasting impression. The committee emphasizes that the design has been shortlisted in part because of the interaction between the Shylight and the Rijksmuseum."

 All awards will be presented on Saturday, October 24th during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven

 Shylight nominated for Dutch Design Week 2015: http://www.studiodrift.com/news/latest-news/shylight-nominated-for-dutch-design-award

DDW: http://www.ddw.nl

*Pictures by Erik Smits

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In 20 Steps

The video In 20 Steps unfolds Drifts latest work in situ, at the island of Murano in Venice as part of Glasstress 2015 Gotika: a joint exhibition project of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and Berengo Studio in Venice.

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Somewhere between the late medieval age and the Enlightenment, art stopped being used as a means of teaching in everyday life. It started acting as a spiritual guide, helping us reach for a higher plane, the divine. The focus in art and architecture moved vertically upwards, reaching for the sky and aiming at the hereafter in heaven.

In 20 Steps is a tribute to the human desire to be able to fly, despite the force of gravity and the poetry of persistence in the face of adversity. Studio Drift is intrigued by the continuous attempts of humankind to deal with its limitations,
so miraculously opposed to nature as these ventures might be. Humankind has always had the desire to fully understand nature and to detach itself from earthly ties. No matter how far science has come, some things are likely to remain forever out of reach. In 20 Steps is a spatial, kinetic installation, constructed of 40 delicate glass wings that represent all the different steps of flying in an abstract way. At the same time, the piece captures flight in a single moment. The glass emphasizes the fragility of the movement and of nature itself. Simultaneously, the moving glass breaks the natural light in the space and reflects it in moving rays.

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Obsidian

With this work we took a seemingly alchemical response to the world’s excessive chemical waste problem, highlighting a dialogue between its global increasing threat and its solution.

Since 2007, Studio Drift's focus has been to create a dialogue between nature and technology, creating awareness of how these two apparent opposites can work together. With the Obsidian project we are marking a new direction in our work, mirrors made of highly polished and reflective black, organically formed synthetic obsidian. In this project Studio Drift examines their ethical responsibility in dealing with (their own) chemical e-waste.

Vulcano’s are the natural recycle mechanisms of our world. Ralph and Lonneke discovered an ingenious process of waste management, in which the characteristics of a volcano are simulated in an industrial oven. This highly alchemical recyclingbiomimicy process, developed by a professor in chemistry working on it from 1972, extracts raw materials from chemical waste with 0% emissions.

This method is the world’s most safe and clean way of processing all chemical waste. The leftover product after 100% recycling and extracting all the gold and other rare metals is ‘synthetic obsidian’; a new stable material with very specific characteristics.

The Obsidian Project is a research project to discover and use the singular properties of synthetic obsidian to promote this revolutinairy wast recycling proces . The material is deep black, it feels cold, but shows a high capacity of absorption of light and heat. Moreover, it turns out that synthetic obsidian is highly paramagnetic and almost relates to dark matter. It is the opposite of light.

“One of the weirdest discoveries that we’ve made was that the material sounded like metal, looked like glass and felt like stone.” The first result in this research is a sculpture with reflective qualities.  The Aztecs used natural obsidian to make mirrors and they believed that these black mirrors were the gateway to the spiritual world. As now our spirit reflects in our own chemical waste.

The potential that chemical waste can be transformed into an artwork is a continuous development. The long process of research into the production and processing of the obsidian is considered to be groundbreaking. Studio Drift would like to continue this study and further investigate how this difficult process and ultra-hard material can be used. 

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A film about how and why we create Fragile Future.

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Drift's Shylights at Rijksmuseum interacting with the sun light.

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Studio Drift's Fragile Future real dandelion installation at Cidade Matarzzo Soa Paulo for Made By Brazilians expo during Biannual.

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Studio Drift's Flylight at Arsenale Venice 2014

Studio Drift's Flylight private commission Moscow 2009

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Studio Drift's Shylights permanent at Rijksmuseum

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About | Studio Drift

DRIFT - Drift is curious about the future, not only the new technologies that are changing design, but also the evolutionary developments in nature and human culture. We strive to find the perfect combination of knowledge and intuition, science fiction and nature, fantasy and interactivity.

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With Fragile Future III, Studio Drift fuses nature and technology into a multidisciplinary light sculpture. It consists of three-dimensional bronze electrical circuits connected to light emitting dandelions.