Stellar Chandelier

Tokujin Yoshioka’s second chandelier design for the Swarovski Crystal Palace is a living crystal grown in a tank filled with a mineral solution. The crystals solidify into a dynamic sphere using a technique that slows down movement and provides a structure for natural gathering. The result, a chandelier with the image of a starry night.

Tokujin Yoshioka’s design for Swarovski Crystal Palace as presented at Milano Salone 2010, is an installation which consisted of a 1-metre diameter globe encrusted with 10,000 Swarovski crystals and lit from within by 600 LEDs. An accompanying piece featured another globe suspended in a vast tank of water, on which crystals grew naturally. The design was an evolution of Yoshioka’s 2008 work entitled "VENUS – Natural crystal chair" in which the chair – like Venus – emerged from the ‘water’ as the crystals naturally grew on its frame.

"What is important to me is not just designing another sculpture with crystal, but to create a star which shines in the viewer’s heart," Yoshioka explained. His approach was to, "incorporate the element of beauty born of coincidence," into his piece, adding that, "it was technically challenging because the unpredictable element found in nature had to be accurately expressed by human design." Tokujin Yoshioka.