Glass Elephant – fragile glass and heavy industrial robots in a poetic installation

An elephant in a china shop? No – just heavy industrial robots in a landscape of glass. As part of Stockholm Design Week 4-10 February 2013, Glass Elephant, a design installation in the borderland between industrial design, craftsmanship and performance, is on show in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities’ Skeppsholmen Caverns.

Glass Elephant is a unique, creative collaboration between Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair and ABB.

- “The purpose of the installation is to diversify and vitalize Stockholm Design Week’s image as an innovative and dynamic meeting place for the best in Scandinavian design. We want to create inspiring experiences and added value for both industry professionals and interested members of the public," explains Cecilia Nyberg, Event Manager of Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, which acts as the hub around which Design Week has developed in the last decade.

The exhibition explores the properties of glass as material and muse, and tells a story about the meeting of contrasts. Gossamer glass meets robot arms of steel and the advanced tactile technology of the hand meets the indefatigable precision of the machine in a floating, inquisitive interplay. The exhibition architecture has been designed by TAF Arkitekter.

- “Our basic concept originates in the cavern setting, which is completely without natural light. We want to emphasize the existing space and have added what was not already there. So the installation design has windows as a theme – they are symbolic, as you can’t see out,” says Gabriella Gustafson, TAF Arkitekter.
 
The work of some of Sweden’s most trendsetting designers is featured in Glass Elephant, including Åsa Jungnelius.

- “I’ve chosen to concentrate on the rock and the forces living within it. That’s why I wanted to personify the robots, to make them as much human as machine. They could be about to engage in some kind of jerky wrestling match. There’ll be a number of glass objects around the robots, fetishes from the consumer society, including a giant pink diamond. This is intended to create a somewhat abrasive image of the love of consumerism, something that’s in the process of changing. The desire for material things is universal, but what exactly do we become without our fetishes and the props we surround ourselves with? Cave people?” wonders Åsa Jungnelius.

Other designers taking part are Ann Wåhlström; Carina Seth Andersson; Katja Pettersson; Magnus Elebäck and Chris Martin, Massproductions; Johannes Carlström, NOTE Design; Simon Klenell and John Astbury, Whats what.

The installation is open to the public 5-9 February 12-6 pm and is located in the Skeppsholmen Caverns, the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities.

Stockholm Design Week was held to coincide with Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair for the first time in 2002. The theme week now features more than 60 design-related events taking place at different locations around the city.

To find out more, please visit www.stockholmdesignweek.com or contact
Aia Jüdes, Curator of Glass Elephant, aia@jgc.se, +46 73 788 02 16
Cecilia Nyberg, Event Manager of Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, cecilia.nyberg@stockholmsmassan.se, +46 8 749 43 86 or
Jessica Agert, Media Relations Manager at Stockholmsmässan, tel +46 8 749 4336, jessica.agert@stockholmsmassan.se