Hasta La Ideas

Troika’s dripping lights at Design Miami

We’ve long been fans of the tech-savvy collective Troika (check out our 2006 video), and the trio recently inspired us again with their beautiful installation piece “Falling Light” at Design Miami.

The Cool Hunting Rough Cut here will give you a little glimpse of the piece (as well as a preview of our coverage of the fairs), which creates the mind-bending effect of light droplets dripping from the ceiling onto the floor. The installation is composed of 50 seperate mechanical devices with custom cut Swarovski crystal optical lenses, a computer controlled motor and a white LED light. The LED moves away from the crystal lens, which acts as a prism, and the resulting diffraction gives the light droplets a flowing life.

Created in response to poet John Keats’ commentary on Sir Isaac Newton’s experiments with rainbows, the light experience, combined with the hum of the motors, provides a multi sensory experience and enforces, “Troika’s agenda that science does not destroy, but rather discovers poetry in the patterns of nature.”