FR-EE / fernando romero presents el sol in collaboration with swarovski at design miami/

FR-EE / fernando romero presents el sol in collaboration with swarovski at design miami/
image © designboom

for the past nine years, swarovski has been partnering with design miami/ to bring forth specially commissioned installations by international creatives, which have included jeanne gang’s ‘thinning ice’, guilherme torres’ ‘mangue groove’ and asif khan’s ‘parhelia’. 2015 marks the tenth consecutive year of this project and sees the austrian crystal manufacturer collaborating with mexico city-based architecture and design firm fernando romero enterprise (FR-EE) on an immersive work that explores man’s relationship with the sun, presented in the form of a vast geodesic structure.

designed to scale, ‘el sol’ is one billion times smaller than the sun
image © designboom

designed to scale, ‘el sol’ is one billion times smaller than the sun, and features a spherical cut-out internal framework, with a smooth outer surface composed of an intricate puzzle of four different types of specially developed precision-cut crystals covered in swarovski’s iconic aurora borealis coating. faceted internally, the crystals augment the light emitted from the installation’s core; while a spherical pool of LEDs refracts light off of the crystals, evoking the sun’s gaseous, moving terrain.

detail of the custom-made precision-cut swarovski crystals
image © designboom

composed of 2,880 custom-made precision-cut swarovski crystals, ‘el sol’ references the sacred geometry that was used by ancient aztecs and mayans in the construction of their pyramids, conceived as a means to monitor celestial events. with this spherical work, FR-EE founder and creative director fernando romero wanted to pay homage to this legacy, while also employing modern technologies in its creation. more than 350 hours of engineering work, and three months of design and technical development went into the realization of ‘el sol’ at the swarovski headquarters in wattens, austria.

‘el sol’ is composed of 2,880 custom-made precision-cut crystals
image © designboom

of the partnership, fernando romero says: ‘it is an honor to collaborate with swarovski on ‘el sol’. the project has allowed me to explore mathematics in relation to nature and my mexican ancestry, which is very important and personal to my practice. the geometric patterns presented in el sol mirror those found in the natural world and remind us that certain proportions are woven into the very fabric of nature. the final product is meant to capture this sense of the curious synchronicity of the universe, an elusive balance between chaos and order.’

the spherical pool of LEDs refracts light off of the crystals, evoking the sun’s gaseous, moving terrain
image © designboom

nadja swarovski, member of the swarovski executive board comments: ‘we are delighted to celebrate ten years of partnership with design miami/ and to collaborate with fernando romero on a work that is both visually and technically awe-inspiring. truly challenging our product development team, fernando has explored themes associated with heritage and nature to create el sol, an immersive installation on a vast scale, and we look forward to seeing the final result in miami.’

faceted internally, the crystals augment the light emitted from the installation’s core
image © designboom

‘el sol’ incorporates an interactive element that will offer an alternative view of the installation. visitors will be provided with specially developed crystal lenses for their phone’s camera that when the photo is taken, will refract light, creating a prism-like, kaleidoscopic effect. it is on view at design miami/, december 2-6, 2015.

the smooth outer surface is composed of an intricate puzzle of four different precision-cut crystals
image © designboom