Exhibition: FLYNN TALBOT White / Gold
26 February – 26 March 2011

For his first solo exhibition at HELMRINDERKNECHT contemporary design gallery in Berlin, emerging Australian lighting designer Flynn Talbot (*1981) has developed a brand new interactive light product called X&Y.  The object allows people to touch and control the power of the light. This not only creates a personal but also a very sensory experience. X&Y is not just an exploration of colour but, more importantly, it encourages the user to choose their own desired lighting effect.

The design of X&Y is deliberately minimal, making the light effect the central focus. The polished brass base contains all the LEDs and technology and is not connected to the the hand-blown opal glass sphere. The sphere simply sits on the base and is supported by a ring of felt. It can be rolled in any direction to determine the intensity and colour of the light from the illuminated base. The object takes its name from the X&Y axes - the horizontal “X” axis controls the colour and the vertical “Y” axis defines the brightness. The sphere produces light in a range of cool to warm white tones and a full colour spectrum. Talbot's new interactive light object is about pure light and an element of surprise with the only the lower hemisphere illuminating when rotated into the on position.

X&Y functions remarkable simply with no dimmers, no switches, no remote control, no instructions.

Talbot has contemplated the idea of an interactive light object for several years, briding the fields of interactive design and product design. Only latest achievements in LED technology have enabled the optimal realisation of this design vision. The simple, utilitarian exterior belies the complex technical LED system operating within the base of the product. X&Y, the White / Gold edition, is entirely handmade and produced in a strictly limited edition of 8+2AP, each individually signed and numbered. Measurements: ∅ 50x54.5 cm. Available at HELMRINDERKNECHT contemporary design gallery.

Flynn Talbot studied Industrial Design at the Western Australian School of Art in Perth, Australia. After several years in London he returned to Perth in 2007 where he started his own company specialising in lighting installation design. Among the awards he received for his designs is the first prize for his project in the "Philips/PLDA International Lighting Design Competition for St. Peter's Church" at the Luminale Festival in Frankfurt, Germany. Flynn Talbot was named young Lighting designer of 2010. In the same year he moved his studio from Australia to Berlin where he has lived and worked since.

At the end of March 2011 HELMRINDERKNECHT gallery will be leaving its gallery location in Berlin-Mitte in order to continue the work as a pop-up gallery in the future. HELMRINDERKNECHT will continue to organize solo- and group shows with national and international design talents in changing locations in Berlin as well as in other cities and countries.  The gallery maintains close ties with Berlin through its "Schaulager"-showroom where visitors will be welcome by appointment.

HELMRINDERKNECHT contemporary design
Petra Maendler Helm and Martin Rinderknecht               
Linienstrasse 87, D-10119 Berlin