Designed for Handmade 2017, and featured in Wallpaper as part of an annual design challenge for invited designers to design an object in response to a theme and in collaboration with a manufacturer.
Wallpaper asked for designs for an object for worship, spirituality and mindfulness for a non-denominative temple.
A primal clock and contemplative obelisk which serves as a central focal point in a temple or meditation space.
When released at the top of the cone, a ball slowly spirals down to the base in one continuous motion; thereby measuring and indicating an exact time period through its cyclical descent. The geometry is proportioned according to the "golden section principle", with a spiralling ramp carved into its surface. At 2.4m tall, the object relates to both the human scale, and the volume of a temple space.
On a functional level, this device provides a rhythm, a measure of a set time span which guides and structures a meditation or prayer cycle. The simplicity of this object, the elegance of the cyclical motion, and the sound of the moving ball draw the observer in and suggest elemental questions about the passage of time.
This totem pole for meditation was inspired by the cultural vocabulary of ritual or ceremonial objects that can be found throughout history in different early civilisations. As a vertical marker, the object is reminiscent of neolithic standing stones or obelisks. The spiral is a powerful symbol of life and these two primitive patterns are combined into one object that is both archaic and contemporary, complex and simple, symbolic and functional, mysterious and obvious, mechanical and spiritual.
