Stockholm designer Anki Gneib challenged artistic collective SX70 Europe to transport her enormous carved candlesticks from their place of manufacture in the woods of Sorvi-Pojat in Finland to her studio in Stockholm. They decided to wear suits for the occasion and photograph the journey.
Eirik V Johnsen and Kristian Pohl of Mentalpropell transported the Holy candle sticks as the first in a series of experiments called Overland Express, for which they intend to photograph large and unwieldy objects as they're transported across different landscapes.
Gneib's candle holders are each carved from a single piece of wood with a brass insert in the top to protect them from fire.
There's also a smaller version called Holy Moly.
She showed them at NK department store during Stockholm Design Week, which took place from 6 to 12 February. See all our stories about the event here.
Here are some more details from Anki Gneib:
HOLY - by Anki Gneib
More than ever we need to surround ourselves with objects that inspire us, that create a mood and make us reflect. The monumental candlestick Holy encourages us to celebrate in our everyday lives.
Holy embraces the Scandinavian traditions of worship and the importance of illumination during our long winter nights with the magical warmth of the candlelight.
The shapes are drawn from classical models, each with its own expression, that complement and interact
with each other.
They are turned from a single piece of wood, with a natural finish or painted with Swedish traditional colors.
HOLY MOLY: height 1600, 1400 and 1100 mm.
Adapted for pillar candles with 150 and 80 mm in diameter.
HOLY: height 570, 490 and 390 mm.
Adapted for taper candles, tealights and pillar candles with 40 mm in diameter.
Each candle has a candleholder in brass to protect against fire and candlegrease.
HOLY has had a long journey. I was curious to see how HOLY would interact with the landscape and challenged the artist collective SX70 Europe to travel with HOLY from Sorvi-Pojat in Finland to Stockholm. They have done this in their own inimitable style, and I am proud to share their project SILENT CARGO with you.
SILENT CARGO – an Overland Express project by SX70 Europe
We wanted to explore how HOLY would interact with the slow, flat landscape in Ostrobothnia. The suited gentlemen from mentalpropell.com accepted the task of letting HOLY inspire them on their way from Sievi to Stockholm. Their investigation of HOLY has led us to see new aspects, both of the candlesticks and of the suited gentlemen. Transporting monumental candlesticks led us to new insights on the interaction between physical objects, people and landscapes.
Kristian Pohl and Eirik Vandvik Johnsen has explored Deadline Art projects since 1988. «Silent Cargo» is our 18th project, and the first one in the series «Overland Express». Later «Overland Express» projects will further investigate what happens when large, unwieldy, mysterious objects are transported over large distances.
