Blossom Chandelier
Tord Boontje
Swarovski Crystal Palace
Tord Boontje
Swarovski Crystal Palace
“I was asked by Swarovski to reinterpret the chandelier using their existing components. For me there was an immediate attraction to the material with its glitter and colors. I like crystal when it is used densely with an internal light, because it becomes very magical, like the ice palace of the fairy queen. By using LED we were able to place the light source directly next to the crystals, and best of all they could be programmed to flash on and off in sequence – all adding to the magic. The form of the blossom branch came from a romantic idea. It is a place where crystal belongs.” –Tord Boontje
“Boontje's Blossom chandelier -- a tree-branch-shaped light glittering with pink crystal blooms that was designed for an exhibition sponsored by Swarovski at the Milan Furniture Fair last spring -- started a buzz that has only grown louder. And it's unlikely to fade, as Boontje is showing a ''black'' version of Blossom at Milan this month and is working with Swarovski on an entirely new chandelier. He is also one of four finalists (including Apple's designer Jonathan Ive) for the first Designer of the Year Award, sponsored by the Design Museum in London. Alice Rawsthorn, the museum's director, says that Boontje's work taps into the trend toward a more sensual, less minimal aesthetic, and museum goers are eating it up with a spoon: when Blossom was exhibited, visitors ''crowded around it, and everyone gets it, from seniors to 6-year-olds.''
'No one, recently, had tapped into the amazing potential of a chandelier. They were designed to give architecture a special feeling, but in fact good chandeliers make people feel things.'' Blossom, she adds, ''transforms your experience of a place.''
Crawford is right. Blossom looks as if Boontje had plucked it out of your dreams; you can't help falling in love with it. Robust enough to resist being mimsy, as we British say, and yet not at all coarse, its crystal-encrusted steel frame hangs like a flower-laden bough. This kind of fantasy-tinged naturalism, filtered through technology, characterizes much of Boontje's recent work.”-New York Times 2003
The Night Blossom is in the permanent collection of the St. Louis Art Museum.
Inquiries: info@moss-gallery.com
“Boontje's Blossom chandelier -- a tree-branch-shaped light glittering with pink crystal blooms that was designed for an exhibition sponsored by Swarovski at the Milan Furniture Fair last spring -- started a buzz that has only grown louder. And it's unlikely to fade, as Boontje is showing a ''black'' version of Blossom at Milan this month and is working with Swarovski on an entirely new chandelier. He is also one of four finalists (including Apple's designer Jonathan Ive) for the first Designer of the Year Award, sponsored by the Design Museum in London. Alice Rawsthorn, the museum's director, says that Boontje's work taps into the trend toward a more sensual, less minimal aesthetic, and museum goers are eating it up with a spoon: when Blossom was exhibited, visitors ''crowded around it, and everyone gets it, from seniors to 6-year-olds.''
'No one, recently, had tapped into the amazing potential of a chandelier. They were designed to give architecture a special feeling, but in fact good chandeliers make people feel things.'' Blossom, she adds, ''transforms your experience of a place.''
Crawford is right. Blossom looks as if Boontje had plucked it out of your dreams; you can't help falling in love with it. Robust enough to resist being mimsy, as we British say, and yet not at all coarse, its crystal-encrusted steel frame hangs like a flower-laden bough. This kind of fantasy-tinged naturalism, filtered through technology, characterizes much of Boontje's recent work.”-New York Times 2003
The Night Blossom is in the permanent collection of the St. Louis Art Museum.
Inquiries: info@moss-gallery.com
