Shedding light on their own creative process and demonstrating how the spark of inspiration evolves into material designs was the aim of the 2012 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award winners.
Working from the brief “From Spark to Finish,” the three winning projects also include an interactive element, so visitors can experience the creative impulse for themselves.
Interpreting the idea of a spark as the generation of energy, Tom Foulsham of the United Kingdom created Go-Round, a device that balances on a single sharpened point. The simple act of breathing produces small, usually unseen forces, and Go-Round attempts to visualize this energy. Visitors can propel themselves with everyday objects, such as hairdryers, fans, balloon dresses or by simply exhaling.
Lightzeit by Germany’s Markus Kayser explores how natural light constantly changes through motion, intensity and color rendering. Lightzeit is a minimal light installation resembling the tubular lights widely used in offices and public spaces, but this light travels in a 24-hour cycle, 360 degrees around its axle. While the position of the light changes, the light’s qualities adjust in color temperature and intensity throughout the day, reconnecting it to the natural rhythm. The user can set the place and time of day by an interactive switch in the form of an abstract world globe.
Canada’s Philippe Malouin created Daylight, a series of lamps or artificial windows inspired by plantation shutters. The shutters are secured to a bare wall and contain an artificial light source. Each individual slat is lined with LEDs that replicate the color temperature of daylight. The light emitted is reflected back from the wall on which the window is mounted to produce the impression that a real window lies behind. Light intensity can be adjusted by manipulating the angle of the shutters.
This marks the third year of the awards, the result of an alliance between W Hotels and Design Miami/.