by Studio Loop.pH
Luminous lace – a new light sculpture for Kensington Palace
design:studio Loop.pH.
Kensington Archilace – A luminous lace light sculpture for Kensington Palace by art & design studio Loop.pH.
Kensington Archilace is a specially commissioned light sculpture for the new Kensington Palace in London, UK. The lace lies at the heart of Kensington’s new entrance, drawing visitors through the space, providing a visual focus for the stone hall and helping visitors to navigate their way through the Palace by offering a beacon to which visitors can return. Kensington Archilace is an example of cutting edge digital tools seamlessly combined with the ancient art of manipulating fibres into cloth, forging a path between antiquity and the present.
The piece is striking and modern yet echoes the textile history of the Palace by taking inspiration from the Royal Ceremonial Dress. The studio explored the relationship between the intricate lace and architectural form and worked with lace historian’s to reproduce some of the complex stitches found in the Palace’s abundant collection on an architectural scale.
Loop.pH pioneered the technique called Archilace, whereby many strands of structural and light emitting fibres are laced into architectural scale, animated cloth, parametrically designed and controlled by bespoke electronics. The studio fuses the practice of ancient textile crafts, advanced fibre technology, digital tools and architectural design.
Kensington Archilace is entirely hand crafted, woven by a skilled team of London lacemakers using over 4 kilometres of electroluminescent fibre and over 12,000 Swarovski Crystals.
The crystals have been donated by Swarovski who have a programme of supporting emerging talent in different artistic fields from fashion to architecture.
Loop.pH Biography:
Loop.pH are a London based spatial agency re-imaging life in the City. Led by artists Mathias Gmachl and Rachel Wingfield, they intervene at an urban scale and beyond specialist boundaries.
They are Internationally recognised for ephemeral space-crafting, creating luminous, living environments. Their urban interventions re-interpret public space by handcrafting technology into speculative futures.
Contact:
Rachel Wingfield & Mathias Gmachl
email: Loop@Loop.pH
phone: +44 (0)2078129188
Studio Loop.pH
Unit 2 | 231 Church Street
Stoke Newington
London | N16 9HP | UK
