EVENT 1:Hammer Museum

When I first walked in to the exhibit “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” at the Hammer Museum little did I imagine how truly impressed and enthralled I would be by all the material on display. The British designer, Heatherwick, and his studio work on an astonishing array of projects ranging from the handbag designed for Longchamp and the rotation-molded Spun chairs, to current large architectural projects in the UK, South Africa, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, etc.

The studio built a circular object with a completely symmetrical rotational form, which acted as a chair. Irrespective of its orientation, this object served as a seat. In this way we can see how the studio successfully blended science with art to come up with something useful, novel and beautiful.

It was also extremely fascinating to see how Heatherwick Studio turned inexpensive materials into valuable, mail-able objects. They turned the process and elements of mailing “thank you cards” into the cards themselves. In this way they managed to cut down on their expenses, while still standing out to their customers and well-wishers, by using innovative methods.

The studio was also invited to design the cauldron for the 2012 Olympic games that was held in London. The studio decided that it must draw on the collaborative spirit of the event by allowing every country in the Olympics to partake in the making and lighting of the Olympic cauldron. To do this, it came up with a very unique solution. During the opening ceremony, a representative from each country would place its copper element on a slender rod radiating from a central location in the stadium. The individual flames would then be lifted to a single, symbolic flame.

Walking out of this exhibit, I was truly amazed by all the fascinating things that I had witnessed. It was mind-boggling to think how beautifully Heatherwick Studios had managed to capture the essence of both science and art in its work. It only made me further realize that no great art can be produced without having creativity as well as a deep scientific understanding and appreciation.