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

entomarium extinct

a collection of lamps that seemingly brings

extinct insects back to life

  • year 2020

  • categories Limited Editions
    Products & Furniture

detail of an entomarium extinct wall lamp with five extinct insects in bulbs, image credit: Leonard Hilzensauer

entomarium extinct appreciates moments in nature and questions the interaction between man and nature. Developed for Victor Hunt Gallery, the project is a further development of the interactive installation curiosity cloud.
Simple, contemporary glass bells form the main component of these illuminated objects. These mouths-blown glass vessels are safe settings for artificial hand-fabricated insects portraying various extinct species from all over the world. Seen from a distance, the insects appear quiet and calm. However, as soon as one approach the object, the glass bells light up and the insects start swirling around, flying inside the glass vessels. They gently touch the glass, which in turn creates a soundscape. The project allows the extinct insects to seemingly come back to life in order to be seen and thus draw attention to the loss of biodiversity.
entomarium extinct is available in various sizes. Individual glass bulbs form a table lamp or a single wall lamp, multiple glass vessels together work as chandeliers or wall chandeliers. To work smoothly in private settings, the lamps can be switched from interactive mode, where the insects flutter to a quiet lamp mode, in which the intensity of the light can be controlled.

main image above: Leonard Hilzensauer

interacting with the entomarium extinct wall lamp
image credit: Leonard Hilzensauer

extinct insects come seemingly back to life and thus draw attention to the loss of biodiversity

detail view on xerces blue hanging in the glass bulb of the table lamp
image credit: Leonard Hilzensauer

chandelier at exhibition, Image credit: Jeroen Verrecht

exhibition view at victor hunt gallery, Image credit: Jeroen Verrecht

some of the extinct species we chose for entomarium extinct, all insects are artificially made referring to real species that once lived in the wild

drawing of the table lamp

  • material

    mouth-blown glass bulbs by Lobmeyr, metal, cables, steelwire, brass hoods, motors, LEDs, custom made circuit boards, sensors / artificial handcrafted insects made out of: printed and lasercut foil adapted with felt

  • dimensions

    table lamp: 22 x 45 x 61 cm

    wall lamp: 68 x 28 cm, adjustable in height

  • electrotechnical development

    Simon Laburda (DKIA)

  • team

    Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler, Elisa Polner, Monja Hirscher, Johannes Nortmann

  • special thanks to

    J. & L. Lobmeyr for producing the glass bulbs