Designwire Daily: from the editors of Interior Design magazine

Swarovski and Troika Collaborate at Design Miami

by Nicholas Tamarin | Thursday, December 9, 2010 | 3 Comments

For the third year in a row, Swarovski, the crystal designer and manufacturer, and its collaborative lighting-and-design installation unit, Crystal Palace, presented an exhibit at the annual Design Miami fair, this year partnering with the London design studio Troika, on “Falling Light.”

A multi-sensory installation, “Falling Light,” consisted of 50 ceiling-mounted illumination devices, powerful LEDs emanating from a delicate, mechanized “arm,” and projections of light from all angles through an optically pure, custom-cut Swarovski crystal lens.

The prism-like lens refracted and transformed the white light of the LEDs, immersing visitors in a virtual shower of light “drops.” The drops, appearing as if encircled by vibrant halos of color, rhythmically radiated outward upon hitting a pristine gallery floor.

“For ‘Falling Light’ we chose to work with the intrinsic qualities of Swarovski Crystal optical lenses and their ability to achieve the most precise and pure rainbow halo, in a way, we reduced the use of the crystals to their essence, their bare optical properties,” explains Troika’s Sebastien Noel. “The magic of crystals and their extreme transparency allowed us to bend our visual world, which is key to our installation.”