“Everything in nature is constantly moving and changing, but things that are man-made are static in the way they appear. Shylight was the result of our quest to avoid this: an object, or group of objects, that does not have only one state of being, but changes its character and emotion constantly. The challenge was to find a way of programming the light’s movement so that it did not follow a predictable up-and-down trajectory, but really looked as thought it were alive.

It took five years to perfect the technology, but now we have this beautiful movement that appears totally natural. It is so exciting to consider the possibilities of exploring it in different spaces and moments of time – perhaps eventually choreographing hundreds of Shylights in one big performance. We love watching people’s reactions to Shylight, particularly those of children who try to catch the lamps or dance around them.” Lonneke Gordijn

SHYLIGHT is a light hidden in a cocoon and based on the natural process by which flowers attract and repel pollen-gathering bees. , it falls out of its ‘cocoon’, opens its petals and floats down to show all its splendor. At the slightest danger it flips shut and retreats into his shell.

Inspiration for creating the SHYLIGHT comes from both physical and human nature. Many forms in nature are called at by our emotions, not only by their perfect beauty but also by their behavior. Shyness, fear, pride and hope, we not only see in humans and animals but in a much subtler form in plants and flowers. Depending on the environment, weather and time of day, the flower shows emotions of full regalia, fragrant and screaming at fertilization or closed, waiting for the sun and hiding itself from nature’s elements. In this behavour you see beautiful expressions of emotions.

The cocoon of aluminum and polished stainless steel, includes a motor and a control for light and movement. All elements in Shylight are specially designed for it and handmade. The mechanism that drives the lamps is deliberately visible to show the simplicity and beauty of the technics. The light consists of many layers of pure silk kept apart by the polished RVS. The pattern is stitched in such a structure that it dances with every movement.

SHYLIGHT unfolds its blossom by a system of springs, creating the form once out of the cocoon. Gravity lets SHYLIGHT slight down and a motor controls the upward movement. The brightness and speed of the movement are fully programmable, making them able to dance to music in a group for a particular situation. Every SHYLIGHT is programmable by I-phone or I-pad and can be combined with additional SHYLIGHTs to perform an art piece of dancing, timed illumination. SHYLIGHT is also DMX programmable, and therefore can be used as an element in events.

Made by: Lonneke Gordijn, Ralph Nauta and Jozeph Hendricks
Materials: Aluminium, polished stainless steel, silk, LED’s, robotics
Studio DRIFT have exploited highly mechanical and electronic solutions in order to create a poetic and ‘living’ light.

http://www.studiodrift.com