#Industry News
CRYSTAL MUSEUM
[…] “The Galaxy room takes on a tour of the crystal manufacturing process, evoking the four natural elements by transporting visitors to a different time-dimension” […]
The Crystal Museum is located in the underground area of the former Schmidt crystal and glass factory and features various exhibition spaces that show the evolution of the glass industry from 1820 to the present day.
Filippo Fornai, the architect, conceived the museum as a location where the beauty of the installations and design products combine with their surroundings, stimulating emotions and evoking the idea of crystal’s purity, fragility and hardness.
The first things that come to mind when we think of glass, especially crystal, are its transparency, the way it reflects water and ice and the lightness of air. In fact, crystal and glass embody the elements of fire, air, water and earth.
Earth, since it is born of sand and lead; fire, since it melts into incandescent matter like magma. Water, since it is utilised for cooling. Air, for its simplicity and softness. Based on these four components, the exhibition design aims to bring them out within the exhibition hall through the use of certain materials, colours and installations.
The ceiling of the entrance recalls the component of water and the crystal bubbles blown by artisans. Looking at the structure, the image of water droplets breaking away from the undulating surface instantly comes to mind. The system utilised consists of panels in polished, hammered stainless steel with a mirror effect, laid on a T-grid structure.
Inside the museum, there is a special room called “Galaxy”, which evokes the four natural elements by taking the viewer through a big bang on the creative process of crystal. The panels that cover the entire room are made of polished stainless steel mirror effect to enhance the impact of the video projections, fragmenting and decomposing the architectural space into a kaleidoscopic tunnel where a vortex of light and emotion transports the visitor into a new space-time dimension.
