Unveiled for the first time during Milan Design Week 2015 and now on show during London Design Festival 2015, Unbalance is on display inside the iconic design shop mint as part of Twisting Tradition, an exhibition showcasing over 70 designers who challenge conventional thinking with an imaginative approach to materials and techniques.
The new Alessandro Zambelli’s project draws inspiration from the American artist’s mobiles, those wonderful creations of near-hypnotic power have come to symbolize one of the most fascinating trends in post-war art. The designer’s idea is a set of three bare lines which – with a certain inevitability – combine in alchemy to form a perfect mechanism, a minimal but surprising object. Unbalance is more than a candlestick. It is a game in which the parts swap roles, and nothing is as it seems. The lighted candle, as it burns, causes a loss of specific weight which throws the structure off balance, leaving the flame at a fixed point on the horizon. Unbalance epitomizes probing thought and experimentation. The stark minimalism of its structure seems to melt away, overcome by this alchemy in which all the expressive force comes from the dynamic progression of the movement.
A composition of burnished iron and coloured and borosilicate glass, Unbalance is one of a limited edition of objects devised by members of PadiglioneItalia (a designers’ collective formed in 2012 to map out the specific features of Italian design). Marking the event of Milan Design Week 2015, Unbalance is an exclusive for Secondome Design Gallery in Rome.
