March 2006 • Features
Breaking the Mold
Using unconventional thinking and smart design processes, Arik Levy transforms everyday household objects into beautiful works of art.
By Paul Makovsky
“If I hadn’t been a designer, I would’ve been a scientist,” says Arik Levy, a Paris-based industrial designer who in recent years has captured the attention of companies like Vitra, Ligne Roset, L’Oréal, and Renault. “I work like a researcher in a lab, searching for the genetic codes of materials or companies. Once I’ve decoded them, I inject my own gene in different places.” He believes that changing this “genetic code” essentially creates a new material. “I try to use materials in places they’re not normally used to give them another kind of life.”
Even though he has amassed a huge materials library over the past 15 years, Levy isn’t necessarily interested in the latest. “It’s not really about the material you use, but the way you use it,” he says, citing materials that have been around for decades, such as honeycomb and electroluminescent film, with which he has developed innovative products. “If you use a material in new ways, you’re creating a new molecule for the industry, the public, and yourself.” Metropolis asked Levy to describe the process behind his latest products.
Read Related Stories:
Ready for Prime Time
3-D printing has already transformed design. Now, with affordable equipment widely available, the technology is going mainstream.
Levy had trouble producing a mock-up by hand. He worked with glass model-making specialists in France and Germany, but the results were unsatisfactory, so he turned to 3-D software used in automobile design. “Rather than the traditional way of making and casting from a model, we made a mold for the crystal directly from a 3-D model,” he says. The designer paid particular attention to the way the mold would open. “Glass molds have very sophisticated opening abilities.” Ultimately he created a trace that conformed to the highly complex form so the mold could be split. The result is a piece with soft edges and virtually no cut lines, making the glass look as if it’s melting.
BACK TO TOP