Czech designer Maxim Velčovský of Studio Qubus presented an installation and a new collection of glasses for Viennese crystal brand Lobmeyr during Vienna Design Week last month.
The installation, in Lobmeyr's showroom, featured four "magic lantern" skylines composed of elements from Lobmeyr chandeliers representing Moscow, London, New York and Medina.
Each arrangement of crystal components, placed inside stacked packing cases, was backlit to project the skyline onto a screen.
As a part of the project, Velčovský also designed a series of new glasses which are a combination of traditional Lobmeyr glass shapes with found chandelier parts.
The following is from Velčovský:
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Maxim Velcovsky / studio Qubus for Lobmeyr
Part of Passionswege during Vienna Design week
Curated by The Neigungsgruppe Design
Ten interventions of the “Passionswege 2008″ (Paths of Passion) are one key element of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. Being invited by Neigungsgruppe Design, ten designers or design teams create site-specific installations in Viennese shops.
On a curious trip through Vienna the public can discover places with charm as well as young, international design. Designers this year include - amongst others: Nicole Aebischer (CH), Maxim Velcovsky/studio Qubus (CZ), Bartosz Mucha (PL) and Marco Dessi (Italy) as well as Austrian stars such as EOOS and Gregor Eichinger.
Maxim Velcovsky from studio Qubus about his project:
Working on a project with a company of Lobmeyr’s caliber is a unique experience. I had to return to Vienna several times to see everything from the company’s shop, collections and storage rooms.
The biggest surprise came when Leonid Rath took me to the cellar, where I found hundreds of boxes full of chandelier parts designed by Lobmeyr for customers from almost every corner of the world.
I inspected the parts manufactured for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, for the Kremlin, for Arabian palaces or for projects one knows only from photographs. I had voluntarily locked myself up in this cellar and carefully examined this mass of unusual parts.
I was fascinated by the detail of craftsmanship. I browsed through the photo archive and found various expressions that had been used in different contexts all around the globe.
Lobmeyr has been a carrier of light for centuries and its strength lies in perfect craftsmanship and loyalty to tradition.
It is a ‘lighthouse’ that guides our path.
In Vienna’s cellars, I started unpacking different chandelier parts, comparing them and examining them in detail.
Some of these spare parts have been ‘waiting’ on the shelf for decades and may never be used.
It occurred to me that I could use these parts in a new context and revive their functions.
My idea was to use and combine the principles of Laterna Magika and Shadow Theater.
I decided to build various compositions and project them, by means of light, onto the screen.
I have created three-dimensional installations that cast shadows representing pictures of cities where Lobmeyr designed their great projects.
Thus, the resulting product is a kind of ‘Fata Morgana’ of places where creations of the Vienna-based company are situated.
The projection itself has become a luminous object in the interior.
Cities you can find on the screen are New York, Moscow, London, Medina.
Part of the project was serie of glasses. New glasses are combination of traditional Lobmeyr glass shapes with chandelier parts.
This unique serie is based on the lightness of a glass with a contrast of the base coming from different chandeliers across history.
