Kensington Archilace was the winning proposal for a permanent new light commission as part of Kensington Palace’s renovation project. Loop.pH created a responsive light environment within the palace, hand woven from electro-luminous fibres.
Cutting edge digital tools were seamlessly combined with the ancient art of manipulating fibres into cloth, forging a path between antiquity and the present. Kensington Archilace illuminates the long history the palace has with the art of lace. The act of making lace is an endless process of cyclical movement’s, twisting and untwisting, constructing and reconstructing. Repetition, reproduction, patterning and layering. These very qualities were brought to life and animated within the palace. The lace lies at the heart of Kensington’s new entrance, drawing visitors through the space, providing a focal point for the stone hall and helping visitors to navigate their way through the Palace by offering a beacon to which visitors can return.
Kensington Archilace was hand woven by a skilled team of London lacemakers using over 4 kilometres of electroluminescent wire and 12,000 Swarovski Crystals. The crystals were donated by Swarovski who have a program of supporting emerging talent in different artistic fields from fashion to architecture.
Thousands of crystals embedded in the lacework
