Bolon and Mac Stopa Create Energizing Flooring for Milan Design Week

Swedish design company Bolon and acclaimed designer Mac Stopa have together created unique flooring that will be exclusively presented during Milan Design Week. 



Stopa, who was asked to develop a creative concept for INTERNI magazine's Milan exhibit, produced "Energy for Creativity" - a strong, color and pattern based three-dimensional environment in which Bolon's flooring is an important element of the execution.



As founder and chief architect of Massive Design, Mac Stopa is globally recognised for his innovative, unconventional interiors and design style. With a portfolio and client list that includes many global brands, his work in creating unique public spaces and within industrial design has received widespread acclaim. In collaboration with Bolon, Mac has created his own unique interpretation of their product for the Energy for Creativity INTERNI Press Room.

Consisting of two areas, the INTERNI Press Room integrates visitors in a creative zone, conveying the energizing and creative concept of mixing together multiple colours and materials. In consultation with Bolon's design team, Mac designed tessellating three-dimensional trapezoid floor tiles to form a key visual element of the space. To further optimise the flooring's potential, the tiles will be rotated over the period of the installation, creating multiple geometrical layouts. 

Mac explains - "Energy for Creativity refers to innovation in design, which involves constant experimentation in order to bring new solutions to life. It ́s about challenging existing thinking and technology and enriching it with an alternative and often experimental way of developing new designs and products. Driven by passion, sensitivity, and imagination, Energy for Creativity cures boredom by fuelling the need to experiment and find new alternative solutions."

During Milan Design Week, Bolon will also be installed in a number of places during including the stands of Missoni, Cappellini and Blå Station. In addition Bolon will be seen at the Elle Decoration 25 years exhibition, the Missoni exhibition at Maga Museum and in Luceplan's showroom.

Bolon is a Swedish cutting-edge design company managed by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund, the third generation of the family to own the company. They have developed the company from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand, with a focus on innovative flooring and creative interiors. Bolon's list of clientèle includes Microsoft, Google, Mercedes, Adidas, Reebok and Sheraton, as well as leading architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel and Cappellini. All development, design and production is 100% made in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

For more information, please visit: www.bolon.com

Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze

From the delicate nested spirals of a sunflower's seeds, to the ridges of a majestic mountain range, to the layout of the universe, mathematical patterns abound in the natural world. Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze is a new permanent exhibit that will expose and explain the patterns that surround us.


MSI "Numbers in Nature" from Leviathan on Vimeo.

As you enter Numbers in Nature, lenticular images and an immersive large-format film reveal these repeating patterns hidden throughout nature: spirals, occurrences of the "golden ratio" (ɸ), Voronoi patterns, and fractal branching.

Photo courtesy of Leviathan.

The exhibit's centerpiece is the 1,800-square-foot mirror maze, where you'll find yourself in a sea of equilateral triangle chambers that repeat in a dizzying array of mirrors. Can you navigate the maze to find the secrets within?

Complete your journey through Numbers in Nature in a gallery of interactive digital displays and stations, where you can discover even more patterns and ratios in nature-including those found in your own body and in centuries of music, art and architecture. You'll never look at the world the same way again.

The Museum of Science and Industry is the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere, and contains such magnificent exhibits as an enormous U-505 submarine and a full-scale home of the future. Numbers in Nature, the institution's latest permanent exhibit and newest collaboration with Leviathan, explores the recurrence of patterns and mathematics in our natural world through artful film and interactive installations.

Photo courtesy of Leviathan.

Beginning with an ultra-widescreen theater, we help introduce these phenomena through immersive video content, combining original and existing photography with motion graphics and visual effects. To give guests some hands-on learning, a series of interactive installations (and a mind-bending mirror maze) further explain individual scientific principles touched on in the film. 

Guests can look into a two-way mirror and see their own natural proportions superimposed Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man in real time; or virtually explore 3D spirals, voronoi and other patterns that appear naturally using nothing but the wave of a hand. 

Combining simple analog controls such as knobs, wheels and blocks with cutting-edge technology such as touchscreens, Kinect cameras and Leap Motion sensors, our team designed nearly a dozen dynamic experiences to not only engage children and adults alike but also remain relevant well into the next decade.


About Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, one of the largest science museums in the world, is home to more than 35,000 artifacts and 400,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits designed to spark scientific inquiry and creativity.

Location
5700 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637

Hours
through November 23:
Monday - Friday: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas

For more information please visit www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/numbers-in-nature/


About Leviathan
Leviathan is a conceptual design company that creates engaging narrative content and experiences for brands and entertainers worldwide.

The bold images they conceive appear on stages and architecture, in themed destinations and on screens of all sizes, accompanying famous faces and household names. Leviathan teams build experiences to enthrall audiences, initiate conversations and keep the crowds coming.

Every day, Leviathan's artists and engineers help transform the worlds of commercial advertising, live events, film, television and environments. 

For more information please visit http://www.lvthn.com