Miami, Florida
As part of its 120º anniversary, the renowned Austrian crystal company Swarovski invited Fernando Romero to design the emblematic project, which is shown year by year at the fair Design Miami/.
Fernando Romero studied the significant value that astronomy and celestial objects had on the Pre-Hispanic cultures, as well as their relationship to nature. From that point on, Fernando conceived El Sol.
It is a geodesic sphere that represents his own understanding of the sun and, at the same time, it pays tribute to Buckminster Fuller. The design celebrates Fuller’s engineering creativity and takes advantage of the best contemporary technologies.
In its headquarters in Wattens, Austria, Swarovski designed specifically for this project the 2,880 crystals that make up El Sol. As the sun, this perfect sphere emits light from its interior. But in this case, the light breaks through the Swarovski crystals, and in doing so a unique visual effect is created.
Fernando and the experts group worked 350 hours in El Sol, which weighs more than 500 kilograms.
The visitor will be able to interact with El Sol through a lens developed by Swarovski, which can be mounted on the cellphone and, when taking a picture, will refract the light, generating a kaleidoscopic effect.
