Art can be measured by the artist’s ability to find the perfect balance between life and innovation.
Studio Drift, an art studio based in the Netherlands, has accomplished just that in their Fragile Future collection. The collection features chandelier inspired lights engulfed by dandelion heads. These illuminated wonders integrate nature and technology in an awe-inspiring way.
Studio Drift
Studio Drift was founded by Lonneke Gordjin and Ralph Nauta in 2006. They began their collaborative studio one year after graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven to react to and question human behavior with their art.
(Image Source: www.studiodrift.com)
Nauta brought his skills and experience in craftsmanship and technology. While Gordijn brought her sense of natural forms and concepts that complemented Nauta perfectly.
Ever since joining forces, they have created interactive installations uniquely characterized by their mixed mediums. And, by integrating their passion for nature and scientific innovation into their works, they’ve made a respected name for themselves in the industry. Their work has been featured in multiple museums including the V&A Museum, PAD Paris, the Israel Museum, and many more.
Their aim is to bring the art they see in the world into their installations. With their grounded perception of life taking shape within their work, Gordjin and Nauta have attracted the attention of many people seeking the same thing–as Lonneke explains, “People find the time to look at art within a gallery setting, but the world is one big exhibition if you only care to look.”
…which is what they’ve accomplished in Fragile Future.
A look inside Fragile Future
Through their use of mixed mediums, Lonneke and Nauta have made a large range of sculptures for the collection–varying in size, inspiration and placement. These dandelion chandeliers are made to be hanging pieces, table ornaments or even wall decorations.
(Image Source: www.studiodrift.com)
And creating them was complex. Made from intricate three dimensional bronze circuits that conduct electricity, the dandelion heads are attached to LED lights and placed with extreme precision across the frame of the bronzed walls. All this, to create an incredible, eye-catching effect. The dandelions then naturally soften the light coming through the LED installments, creating a delicate stream of gentle, calming light.
Additional insight into the piece can be seen here:
The meaning behind
Gordjin and Nauta strived to establish a point of balance between information overload and human sensibility. To look at this on a deeper level, Fragile Future aimed to create a dialogue between nature and technology to create a new synergy of sorts. They believed that instead of man trying to overrule nature and proving to be superior, or man trying to mimic nature, it’s best to meet in the middle and find a balance of man on earth.
(Image Source: www.studiodrift.com)
This idea inspired the focus of the dandelion within their collection. The fleeting dandelion, so easily passed by and perceived as just a weed, can be much more than what is expected. Lonneke exclaims, “Think of the transience of a dandelion – one blow and it has gone. It is a plant familiar to every country and every culture, yet nobody really stops to look at it. In our increasingly technological world, I wanted to create something that could only be made by putting so much time and care into it; something that was not designed to be replaced by something else.”
(Image Source: www.studiodrift.com)
The relation between the dandelions and the LED lights that support them can also be viewed as a total contradiction. However, in reality that’s not the case. The lights coincidentally fit the size of the dandelion stems perfectly, bringing these two normally polarizing objects together. Together, with the objective to create light, the basis of all life. Nauta explains, “Light is an important aspect of our work, but it is used as a material or an ingredient not as illumination. The Fragile Future chandelier is not about being able to see in the dark – it is about conveying emotion and referencing the fact that light is the basis of all life. It is also a piece that needs to be nurtured and cared for in order to preserve its aesthetics and continue to enjoy it, and that too was important to us.”
A Flying Sculpture – Franchise Freedom
In their most recent installation at Art Basel Miami 2017, Studio Drift in collaboration with BMW stunned its audience at Miami Beach. Moving across the night’s sky above the ocean were 300 illuminated drones mimicking a flock of birds. Once again Studio Drift presented the interface between technology, science, and art using elements of nature.
A study of the natural flocking behavior of starlings and other birds were programmed into the drones. The drones movements, which were dictated by using algorithms, were orchestrated with bright lights illuminating the sky.
Fragile Future, Franchise Freedom and other works have proven Studio Drift to be so much more than an art studio, or an inventor’s laboratory. Lonneke and Nauta are on a mission to show the world how to take in the magnitude of life and appreciate all that surrounds us.