Tuesday 31 July 2012

Thomas Heatherwick


We stayed up last Friday night to watch the Olympic ceremony and we were very impressed with the cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick. It features 204 copper petals, each representing one of the competing nations. After being ignited the flames spread from one petal to the next. Once all the petals were ablaze they rose upwards to combine as one. It was truly amazing to watch!


When the Games finished, the Olympic cauldron will be divided once more and each country can take home its own copper petal. The cauldron will cease to exist - "Like a flower that only blooms for the duration of the competition, it is a temporary representation of the extraordinary transitory togetherness that is an Olympic Games." - Thomas Heatherwick. 


One of the other things we particularly like by the British designer is his Twisted Cabinet. Made using twisted oak - when the doors are opened halfway, the bottoms of the doors look as if they are nearly open, while the tops look almost closed. Heatherwick has a solo exhibition at London's V&A Museum on right now where you can see this cabinet. It is a fantastic exhibition packed with innovative design and well worth a visit.

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