Oh, to be in London! The 11th annual London Deign Festival kicked off on Saturday, September 14, and already some major art installations are causing quite a stir. A colorful, custom-made Bocci chandelier by Canada-based designer Omer Arbel greets those entering the main doorway of the Victoria and Albert Museum (or the V&A) as it cascades down more than 30 meters. Hung from the highest point in the building, the installation spans the full height of the museum.
Called 28.280, the beautiful chandelier is made up of 280 individual 28 Series glass pendant lamps, each handmade at a Bocci glass factory in Canada using a unique fabrication process developed by designer Omer Arbel. As Arbel states, “28 Series is an exploration of a fabrication process which is part of our quest for specificity. Instead of designing form itself, here the intent was to design a system that haphazardly yields form, almost as a byproduct. ’28’ pendants result from a complex glass blowing technique whereby air pressure is intermittently introduced into and then removed from a glass matrix which is intermittently heated and then rapidly cooled.
“The result is a distorted spherical shape with a composed collection of inner shapes, one of which is made of opaque milk glass and houses a light source.”
V&A Museum
Photo credits: [V&A Museum], [London Design Festival], [John Bassam Studio]