news
  • 15.3.2024 – 13.10.2024
    new project , exhibition

    "Water Pressure - Designing for the future" an exhibition of the MK&G Hamburg and Jane Withers Studio – looks at the water crisis from a global perspective. We were commissioned to come up with an installation celebrating water. The result "vital rain" is part of the exhibition and will stay permanently in the museums yard.
    more soon

    MKG Hamburg - Water Pressure

  • april 2024
    new project

    For the glassware company Lobmeyr we designed "ident" - drinking set No.287

    Identical shape, identical height - five individual glasses.
    The series was unveilded during Milan Design Week.

    Lobmeyr

  • april 2024 - ongoing
    factory tour

    We designed the factory tour for Laufen in Gmunden with a lot of details and small installations to guide and inform local and international guests.

    Laufen Gmunden

  • 5.4.2024 - 14.7.2024
    exhibition

    "inWastement" glass series is on show at the Klimabiennale in Vienna at the "design with a purpose" exhibition.

    Klimabiennale Wien

  • 15.9.2023 - 21.7.2024
    exhibition

    HEIMATEN. An exhibition and survey and an attempt to break with conventional takes on Heimat. the exhibition was shown at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) in 2022. Our specially commissioned piece 'riparian cloud' is now also on show in Molfsee.

    Freilichtmuseum Molfsee

  • 01.06.2024 - 30.03.2025
    exhibition, adapted project

    A utopian insect swarm based on our 'curiosity cloud' developed with 13 children from Dresden swirls during the Kinderbiennale in the Japanische Palais. The participatory process resulted in 24 fantastic, colourful insects.

    Children's Biennale "Planet Utopia"

  • 30.05 2024 - 13.10.2024
    new project , exhibition

    All in! Re-Designing Democracy - Every aspect of democracy has been designed, therefore it can be designed differently. A new "Themis" claims in the exhibition for rights for Nature.

    Bundeskunsthalle

  • 10.05. 2024 - 23.06.2024
    exhibition

    20th anniversary international exhibition and series of events. Our glass project "access" is part of the exhibition.

    design without borders

curiosity cloud

an installation that celebrates a moment in nature

curiosity cloud celebrates a moment in nature and plays on the interaction between humans and the natural environment – commissioned by maison Perrier-Jouët, it was first presented in the V&A Museum during London Design Festival 2015.
The installation comprises 264 mouth-blown glass bulbs, hanging in a room. Each glass-globe contains a single, hand-fabricated insect that refers to an existing species found in nature. From a distance, the insects are quiet and calm. As visitors enter the darkened room and approach the installation, the bulbs close to the observers light up and the insects come to life. They start swirling around and flying inside the glass vessels, thus touching the glass and creating a soundscape. The glass bulbs allow the insects to appear alive, safe from the human’s touch, but still giving the possibility of interaction with the audience. The shown insects represent 25 different species from all over the world, falling into three categories: extinct or highly endangered, very common and newly discovered.
Together the insects form a selection of species that will never coexist next to each other in reality but represent a cycle of life, spanning from extinction to rediscoveries. Four of the represented species were already represented in the project ephemerā. Traditional techniques like glass blowing and metal spinning were combined with contemporary technologies like laser- and water jet cutting to produce the installation. Technical elements like motors, custom- designed circuit boards and infrared-sensors control which of the insects are ‘waken up’. The glass-bulbs were designed in three specific sizes and especially produced by Lobmeyr for the installation.

main image above: curiosity cloud for Perrier Jouët at the V&A museum in London, image credit: Ed Reeve

video of the installation at the V&A museum in London

detail view on a ebony-yewelwing dragonfly, image credit: Ed Reeve

curiosity cloud captures the magical fascination that insects have on humans and creates an engaging atmosphere

handmade insect in a glass bulb
, image credit: Ed Reeve

view through the installation, image credit: Ed Reeve

visitor interacting with the installation, image credit: Ed Reeve

various artificial insects that were used in the curiosity cloud installation. All insect were specially designed and handmade after an extensive research and testing phase

person walking through the Curiosity Cloud

“The most astonishing thing about nature is that everything is interconnected and harmonious. Every aspect of a living creature has a raison d’être, working together in an endless cycle of dialogue and correlation.”

short documentation of the developing process

working on the layout of a path through the curiosity cloud in the studio, summer 2015

studio set up in order to finalise the whole installation before shipping it to London

testing how much glassbulbs will be necessary and how the arrangement of them should be

moodboard for the project

  • material

    mouth-blown glass bulbs, artificial handcrafted insects made out of printed and lasercut foil adapted with felt, threads, hot glue and colour, metal hoods, motors, LEDs, custom made circuit boards, thermal images sensors, aluminium and steel construction

  • dimensions

    500 x 300 x 380 cm

  • special support

  • electro-technical development

    Simon Laburda
    (DKIA)

  • team

    Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler, Anouk Buntsma, Anais Bourcier, Maria Bauhofer

  • special thanks to

    Lobmeyr, for the beautiful glassbulbs