Surfaces focus – Ross Lovegrove unveils his latest work


‘This installation opens up an aesthetic territory between the deep ocean and deep space, forming a dialogue for the 21st century, between aquatic biomorphism and Nasalike intelligent systems,’ says designer Ross Lovegrove in typical bombastic form, describing his latest collaboration with French ceiling specialist Barrisol.


FX

The result of 10 months' work, the Barrisol pavilion and lighting collection was shown at Interieur in Kortrijk, Belgium last year. Barrisol is determined to embrace the worlds of architecture, design and art - it has that great bandwidth.

'The company also has great potential to explore organic and linear spaces,' Lovegrove continues, going on to indicate the marriage of the surface specialist's expertise with his studio's own commitment to amplifying these values of acoustic dampening, reflectivity, elasticity, diffusion and translucency.

Barrisol has been used in high-profile projects such as the London Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid, the Ferrari Museum by Future Systems and the Louis Vuitton shop in Bond Street, London. At Interieur the visitor is met by a vision of golden hexagons on the outside of the imposing pavilion - 7m tall and 12m deep. These honeycomb tiles are covered in a mirrored material. By contrast the interior is all white and, as Lovegrove points out, rather space-like. The wall surfaces are pinched in and out and stretched to the interior framework.

Ross Lovegrove unveils his latest work.

Inside the pavilion all is quiet, compared to the bustle of the Belgian trade fair outside, thanks to Barrisol's acoustic muffling qualities. The idea was to showcase Barrisol's manufacturing technology, such as numerically controlled cutting and digitally controlled 3D bending machines to achieve a high level of precision. 'The scale and surface of the interior skin is of great benefit to architects and designers; the simplicity and freedom of being able to stretch the material across: you don't have to plaster a wall,' says Lovegrove. 'You can also print directly on to it and also backlight it to produce a seamless surface.'

Look up and visitors could see the four large lighting structures that form an infinite loop. They are formed using an aluminium frame, which is built out of a continuous metal frame and holds the LED strip-light source. The surrounding Barrisol skin is stretched to create a striking 3D form. There are three types of loops, which leaves plenty of room for customisation and to make them adaptable for a range of contract environments. The other major piece in the collection is Manta - a rhomboid-shaped light - which again can be reconfigured into various modular arrangements and provides both acoustic dampening and uniform lighting.

Lovegrove, named FX Awards Product Designer of the Year 2013, has collaborated with many global manufacturers since graduating in the Eighties from Manchester Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art, ranging from Renault to DuPont to Cappellini. This project with Barrisol is just the latest example of his career-long passion for pushing new materials to the limits of what's technically possible.








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