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Swarovski Crystal Palace, main sponsor of Design Miami/ 2009, second year in running (last year the crystal brand had Ross Lovegrove as its star designer) unveiled a show-stopping hi-tech installation by Greg Lynn at the recently concluded event. As the last most high-profile design/art event of the year, Design Miami pulls in the glitterati by the dozens. Interior designers, fashion designers, hip-hop stars, movie stars, flashlight-loving socialites and all sorts of famous people.

Greg Lynn

The Swarovski installation created by Greg Lynn

Located at the entrance to the Designers’ Lounge, the structure extended over 80 square metres and reached over seven metres in height, where the ‘walls’ and ‘ceiling’ are made of Swarovski crystal-encrusted suspended panels or “sails” where moulded, curved and billowing shapes overlap and intersect. The installation uses cutting edge technology from the sailing and shipbuilding industry in which carbon and aramid fibres are compressed between transparent sheets of Mylar to make astonishingly strong, lightweight and transparent sails that are less than 1mm thick. “The sails are made to cope with massive loads from the wind,” Lynn comments. “It’s like hanging 3 SUVs off a paper thin sheet.” Lynn has taken this technology to create his sculptural composition, incorporating thousands of Swarovski crystals.

Greg Lynn and Robert Violette

From left: Peter Dundas, Nadja Swarovski, Greg Lynn

From left: Greg Lynn, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos & Yves Béhar

Peter Dundas and Yves Béhar

Viktor & Rolf

Swarovski Crystal Palace celebrated the launch of the installation in honour of Greg Lynn with a guest list of design, art and architecture icons including Maarten Baas, Yves Béhar, Tom Dixon, Peter Dundas, Jefferson Hack, Arik Levy, Ambra Medda, Craig Robins and Viktor & Rolf.