studio drift installs hanging bouquet of robotic flowers that blossom when you are near

amsterdam-based studio drift has choreographed 18 mechanical flowers as part of a kinetic installation presented during dutch design week 2018. meadow is an upside down landscape that is meant to remind the viewer of the impermanence of the constantly changing seasons and characteristics of natural growth processes.

images courtesy of studio drift

the cluster of robotic flowers reacts to the visitors as if they where the sun to a blooming flower, opening to reveal a complex structure of unfolding fabric. as each one expands the light inside also grows, slowly diffusing to illuminate the entire pendant. underneath meadow integrated sensors translate the presence of visitors into different ‘moods’ with each blossom mixing the light color and the gradient color of the fabric. together they create a kaleidoscopic effect from below or an experience of a botanical creature ignited by the viewer.

‘most man-made objects have a static form, while everything natural in this world including people, are subject to constant metamorphosis and adaptation to their surroundings’, studio drift explain. ‘meadow is the result of the question how an inanimate object can mimic those changes that express character and emotions.’

meadow by studio drift was originally developed as a site specific installation commissioned by chodov centre in prague. the work has been displayed during dutch design week 2018 alongside 40 leading and promising designers including lidewij edelkoort & kiki van eijk for google, maarten baas, and léa mazy. the exhibition, titled ongoing design – new design by old friends, will is on display at kazerne in eindhoven until spring 2019.