Olgoj Chorchoj: Skyscrapers

(jiří macek) New materials rank among the elements that stimulate the development of design. Among their producers, one can find the Czech company of Technistone, which manufactures synthetic stone with very interesting qualities. Even though it was primarily used as a stone substitute on kitchen units, for example, Olgoj Chorchoj found a new sphere for its possible use when they designed some unusual lamps made from synthetic stone.

Lamps, presented at the Maison et Object fair in Paris at the end of January, make use of several qualities of the technical stone under the Technistone name. One can cut the stone into narrow slices while maintaining the strength of the stone. Thanks to the new structures, one can also transilluminate it. Another important quality of the stone when designing the lamps was the impossibility to bend or form the material into different shapes.

“The stone is produced in various thicknesses and structures. However, it is still a completely real material. This is a very limiting factor, yet a clear way towards further design,” explains Michal Froněk from the Olgoj Chorchoj studio.

Froněk goes on to describe the process of creating these new lights that are reminiscent of skyscraper silhouettes, “Jan Němeček and I created the concept of the product and tried to compose crystalline forms from this 2D material, after the sketches Daniel Gonzáles (who has collaborated with the studio over the past year) made 3D models and Michal Malášek completed the modeling of all the contact angles for our future designs. The Technistone development workshop cut individual pieces on angular NC machines. That was when the truly complicated production started. Stonecutter Michal Pešout manually treated all the contact surfaces with a precision of one tenth of a millimeter and glued together the final shape. Then, the Ekodesign company installed the inner lighting equipment.”

Apart from lights, monumental planters were also created. If you are thinking of incorporating them into your apartment, you should know that these planters are over two meters high and weigh several dozen kilos. They are designated for exteriors, public halls and lobbies.

Why does Olgoj Chorchoj design lights so often? “Opportunity makes the designer…We received an assignment,” says Michal Froněk dryly. Nevertheless, one can see that light does not leave him cold - “Light forms space. It charges. It shows the way. It creates atmosphere and arouses emotions,” he states. Their city of stone is truly gorgeous.

www.technistone.cz

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