Subject
Fw: technology behind "Lolita" is more likely to be found in a
physics lab ...
physics lab ...
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----- Original Message -----
From: George Shimanovich
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: technology behind "Lolita" is more likely to be found in a physics lab ...
And who will argue now that VN is not a God?
If one looks for inspiration in Nabokov then 'Ada' (where worlds are created or recalled) is a better name for the light messaging in ballroom - given use of water for communication in Terra in place of prohibited electricity: cell phones not allowed on the dance floor! Or, even better, 'Lucette'?
George Shimanovich
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 9:42 PM
Subject: Fw: technology behind "Lolita" is more likely to be found in a physics lab ...
EDNOTE. Good God! Lolita lights?
----- Original Message -----
From: Sandy P. Klein
To: spklein52@hotmail.com
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 1:51 PM
Subject: technology behind "Lolita" is more likely to be found in a physics lab ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/01/content_1450535.htm
Glittering lights of fashion
www.chinaview.cn 2004-05-01 16:58:58
BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhuanet) -- You're swirling around the ballroom, colourful skirts shimmering under the chandeliers when all of a sudden one of the crystal cascades above your head asks you for the next dance.
A surrealist dream? No, a design from the house of Swarovski crystals as it blazes a new trail in the often stuffy world of chandeliers.
The Austrian crystal group teamed up with 10 designers to reinvent luxurious lighting at Milan Design Week, mixing 21st century technology with the clean cuts D. Swarovski & Co has been perfecting for the last 109 years.
Glimmering in a black warehouse, an Art Deco falling spiral chandelier had crowds of party-goers mesmerized as they sent text messages to the light and watched their SMSs trickle through the crystal strands like a luxurious ticker tape.
"It's time to shake up the industry. There are too many chandeliers around with no life and soul - just expensive cookie-cutter designs," said Nadja Swarovski, grand-daughter of the company's founder and vice president of communications.
"We're challenging designers to rework the chandelier any way they want. The results are so modern in both terms of beauty and interactivity," she said, as the "Lolita" light behind her sparkled with the news that "Davide loves Carina".
The technology behind "Lolita" is more likely to be found in a physics lab than a design studio. Electronic processors strip data out of a mobile phone and send it to strings of LED lights hanging inside crystal cylinders.
Electrical impulses then switch the tiny white lights on and off in sequence so the words of the SMS seem to slide along the sparkling strings.
Rich partnerships
The glistening chandeliers are not for the faint hearted with "Nest" - a giant swirl of 7,800 coin-sized crystals draped around a luminous white oval - worth more than 15,000 euros (US$18,480) in crystal alone.
But Swarovski believes the "Crystal Palace" chandelier project is worth every penny.
As well as breathing new life into luxury lighting, Swarovski loves the fact that designers, manufacturers and crystal cutters are fostering new ideas and urging each other to push beyond known boundaries.
"It's just like my grandfather who worked with designers like Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. They would ask for a coating that would make material shine like the Northern Lights and back he went to Austria and created it," beamed Swarovski.
The bubbly 33-year-old has been the force behind Swarovski's return to fashion, branding the crystals with their own label and publicizing their quality to set them and their price apart from run-of-the-mill diamante or rhinestones.
In 1998, Swarovski teamed up with Alexander McQueen, the bad boy of British fashion who studded his catwalk collection with crystals and set an immediate trend.
"It's a matter of working on a two-way street and learning from each other," said Swarovski, whose business makes about 1.7 billion euros of turnover a year - including sales of teardrop crystals to more traditional chandelier makers.
Dreams and designs
Designer Yves Behar and engineer Michael Hammers, who created the 3.7-metre (12 feet) high "Nest" chandelier, agreed.
"I had no idea how crystal hung so there I was planning away on my computer and it wasn't until Michael educated me on what would look most beautiful that we got this effect of a necklace draped around a woman's neck," said Behar, who makes his living designing watches for Nike and hardware for Hewlett Packard.
Floral stylist Jeff Leatham gave Parisian glass blowers the task of creating 660 replica orchids which were then shipped to Austria and studded with what he reckoned were a million tiny crystals to glow in fibre-optic and halogen light.
"Chandeliers are the ultimate, traditional luxury but here we've made them into a social event which is what modern life is all about," said Moritz Waldeneyer, "Lolita's" engineer.
Swarovski plans to take the chandeliers on a world tour including Dubai and Shanghai and expects some of the crystal creations to end up in museums or designer households.
"Last time we did a chandelier project both Karl Lagerfeld and Dolce & Gabbana ended up asking us to reproduce one of them so you never know, this may be the future," Swarovski smiled. (Agencies via Xinhua)
www.xinhuanet.com
XINHUA online
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