Emerging Norweign designer Kim Thomé partnered with Swarovski to create Zotem, an intricate installation in the grand entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. Zotem—the 18-meter-tall, double-sided monolith—is embedded with more than 600 custom-made Swarovski crystals. One of the highlights of this year’s London Design Festival, it will remain on view during Frieze London.
Thomé said he was inspired to create such an installation after his visit to the Swarovski Kristallwelten museum, which gave him the “confidence to play with scale.” Built to draw the viewer’s eyes upward, the structure mixes light and movement as it goes from the V&A’s grand entrance up to the sixth floor contemporary ceramics gallery. A visual illusion is created as brightly colored fabric inside of the black steel shines through the crystals that are scaled up to two-and-a-half times their regular size and displayed in a grid pattern. As light is shone through the structure, patterns and colors are projected and distorted by the crystal.
Courtesy of Mark Cocksedge
“Zotem reveals the interplay between light, color, and the experimentation with our crystal—this high-rising structure is the perfect way to celebrate the capital’s growing design talent,” said Nadja Swarovski, member of the Swarovski Executive Board. The installation will be in place at the V&A through October 31.
