The INFINITY IN MOTION exhibition celebrates design with two new exceptional lighting elements
With events such as Maison & Objets, Paris Design Week and France Design Week, the design community is at full throttle as the back to school 2022 season unfolds: But it was undeniably Atelier Alain Ellouz at center stage last Saturday September 10th. More than 150 aficionados of the brand, including architects, designers, journalists and friends, attended the vernissage of the INFINITY IN MOTION exhibition. The event will go on for the entire month of September in the art gallery space of the Alain Ellouz Foundation.
INFINITY IN MOTION showcases two of the workshop’s latest lighting designs, INFINITY 16 and INFINITY ILLUSION. Both are the continuation of the versions 8 and 12 from the same collection, prizewinners of international design awards several times over.
This exhibition is devoted to the INFINITY movement. First conceptualized in 2018, it expresses an innovative, artistic dynamic emanating from the workshop. Here, designs are the fruit of determined exploration and technical prowess using a vocabulary of basic forms: straight cylinders, quarter circles and eighth of circles. With lightweight, vibrant shapes, INFINITY is a collection of pieces you can compose freely using curved and straight alabaster elements according to choice. Compositions take on an aerial, weightless appeal, oscillating between vertical and horizontal axes in a show of artwork and contemporary design.
Marion Biais-Sauvêtre, Head of the design office at Atelier Alain Ellouz, explains
“Three basic forms define this alabaster design. From them emerge infinite combinations of formal contours, refined and aerial. As they unfurl in the space around them, INFINITY 16 and INFINITY ILLUSION display a supple silhouette structured by symmetry, or inversely, by asymmetry, powerful in their volumes. They are a tribute to mathematics, in a certain way …”
INFINITY 16 and INFINITY ILLUSION are inspired by the Möbius strip, a closed curve with no beginning or end and a one-sided surface with only one edge.
INFINITY 16
INFINITY 16 is the continuation of the versions 8 and 12 from the same collection, which are based on symmetry and a circular form. Comprised of four, large back-lit alabaster loops, INFINITY 16 floats on a horizontal axis in a dynamic and structured linear flow. The longer center loop forms a large W and accentuates the open lines that angle upwards.
The contours of this alabaster helix are uniform and graceful. Similar to a classic light bulb, the filament-like alabaster appears white hot. The material vibrates, offering a natural luminosity that beckons a sort of contemplation suspended in time.
INFINITY ILLUSION
NFINITY ILLUSION is absolutely captivating thanks to its poetic and seemingly improvised contours. ILLUSION has a distinct power rooted in its ‘shape shifting’, asymmetric design. The beholder can change their standing position to admire a new and unpredictable figure. Each one offers myriad interpretations and sculptural designs, infinitely. A real optical illusion. The eye enjoys myriad sculptural designs, all different, ad infinitum. Sculpted with neither top nor bottom, INFINITY ILLUSION flows in the space around it in a totally weightless, fluid rhythm.
These two architectonic luminaires typify the unparalleled virtuosity and know-how of Atelier Alain Ellouz, which pushes even further the boundaries of alabaster lighting design.
INFINITY IN MOTION Exhibition
Fondation Alain Ellouz
17 rue des Jonnières – 91 570 Bièvres
from September 8 – 28, by appointment
contact@atelieralainellouz.com
