London Design Festival: these spinning 'light paintings' made with sparkling crystal beads by designer Philippe Malouin are currently on show in the Digital Crystal exhibition at London's Design Museum (+ movie + slideshow).

"Blur is a series of ‘paintings’ realised through light and motion," Malouin told Dezeen, explaining that they were made by attaching rows of colourful Swarovski crystal beads to a motor that spins at high speeds.

"The circles shimmer because LEDs shine light at them, while variations in the speed of rotation affect the colour intensity," he added.

Like the other pieces in the exhibition, Blur explores the idea of memory in an increasingly digital world.

Malouin says the piece alludes to memory through the "transformation from its solid state to its accelerated state," as it retains the memory of its simple underlying design while transforming it through movement. "It doesn't always spin – it's programmed to reveal its different states," he adds.

Digital Crystal continues until 13 January 2013. We recently featured another installation from the exhibition – a mechanical projector by London design studio Troika.

Malouin is also taking part in Seven Designers for Seven Dials, an aerial installation in Covent Garden curated by Dezeen that will be on show throughout London Design Festival, which takes place between 14–23 September.

See all our stories about Philippe Malouin »
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Photographs are by David Levene.

Above: movie interview with Philippe Malouin filmed by the Design Museum

Philippe Malouin will be speaking on Friday 21 September at Dezeen Live, our series of live daily shows featuring talks with designers and critics during the 100% Design trade fair at Earls Court, west London.

Philippe Malouin is included in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.