You took my breath away

Status : Concept

This proposal is designed to mark the end of the new Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension. NEON were greatly inspired by Brierly Hill’s rich 400 year history as a centre of the glass industry. While the 20th century saw its rapid decline, glass from Brierly Hill was recognised as amongst the finest in the world. The glass produced here was of such quality that it has been used countless times for gifts for royals and other dignitaries.  

Our proposal is entitled “You took my breath away”, it is intended as a nostalgic love letter to the glass industry of Brierly Hill. The name captures the feeling that you get when you see something or someone you find beautiful but it also describes the physical act of glass blowing which is literally formed by the makers breath.

The artwork is composed of 95 components each of which contains a glowing vessel like form mounded on a pole. These components are designed to appear like glowing pieces of molten glass on blow pipe. The artworks pieces go from one to many and from low to high to appear like they are being swept into the air by the wind. Our intention at this stage would be for each pole to house an accelerometer to measure the wind speed at any given moment. This wind data would be used to trigger the led light within each vessel to glow brighter and transition between colours to represent heating and cooling and internal expansion.