Panerai makes waves with London Design Festival installation

Richemont’s Officine Panerai is rethinking the clock by sponsoring a large-scale installation at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

In partnership with design duo Glithero, “The Green Room” has turned the museum’s six-story staircase into a timekeeping mechanism with moving parts that rotate in minute increments. Part of the London Design Festival, the installation may see more eyes as London Fashion Week and numerous design events take part in the city.

Turning around
The Green Room is named after a surfing term for the experience of being within a cylindrical wave.

Glithero’s Tim Simpson and Sarah van Gameren looped 160 multicolored silicon cords over a 10-foot diameter ring suspended above the 57-foot-tall staircase.

These cords are each connected to a rotating cam arm at the center of the circle, which makes one revolution per minute. As the structure turns, the strings individually rise 8 feet and then fall again, creating a wave of color.

Rendering of Glithero's installation at the V&A

According to the designers, they wanted to make an interactive clock you could literally get inside of, making the typical timekeeping device more experiential.

The installation opened on Sept. 17 and will run through Sept. 25. Mr. Simpson and Ms. van Gameren will give a tour of The Green Room on Sept. 21 at 1 p.m.

As the London Design Festival is up, brands have taken the opportunity to share their stories in inventive ways.

British automaker Jaguar is illuminating its brand history and its vision of what is to come through a conceptual installation for the inaugural London Design Biennale.

Based on the event’s theme “Utopia by Design,” Jaguar’s display is a laser light show that depicts its milestones over the years. Opened to the public Sept. 7 at Somerset House, the London Design Biennale produced in partnership with Jaguar includes installations, artwork, prototypes and designs from creatives hailing from 37 countries (see story).