14 September, 2018 | Wim Botha bends light at Steenberg Estate, a drivable Lego racer and an underwater sculptural exhibition in the Maldives. Luxury meets experimental design in this week’s briefing.
Bugatti’s Lego masterpiece
Lego has successfully built the first ever life-size drivable Bugatti Chiron. The toy brick manufacturer created a $2.6 million replica using a million Lego pieces. Featuring a functional speedometer the LEGO Technic Bugatti Chiron weighs 1 500 kilograms and took 13 438 hours to construct. Bugatti’s official test driver, Andy Wallace took the Technic version of the Chiron on its first drive just outside of Wolfsburg, Germany – the same track where the original Bugatti Chiron was tested.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bending light at Norval Foundation
A brand new exhibition exploring the transformation of light is set to enthral visitors at Norval Foundation in Tokai. Renowned South African contemporary artist, Wim Botha, will be exhibiting Wim Botha: Heliostat from 29 September 2018 until 22 January 2019.
Refraction is the running theme and Botha will literally be applying dichroic filters to glass surfaces throughout the exhibition, and metaphorically, for the transformation and manipulation of canonical artworks and symbols of Afrikaans identity.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An extra-thin tourbillon
Vacheron Constantin has given their Fiftysix Tourbillon range a retro-contemporary feel. The new collection stands out for its thinness which is made possible by the 2160 automatic calibre, and is an elegant nod to the vintage Vacheron Constantin watch from 1956.
Driven by the new 1326 calibre, this is the first time the Swiss watchmaker has debuted a collection with both gold and steel versions.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An underwater gallery
Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi has installed a half-underwater sculpture gallery and artificial reef that combines the natural environment with the world of art. Guests are invited to snorkel through the Sculpture Coralarium with on-site marine biologist, Samuel Dixon.
The installation is made up of a rust-resistant stainless steel cube and aims to draw all the elements of life on earth together, to portray a system where all components are dependant on each other, humans and the environment in coexistence, a levelling of relationships.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This knife will cost more than a Porsche
Cabot has partnered with Italian blademaker Alessandro Colombatto for a groundbreaking blade. The Platinum Mamba knife is an especially unique creation made with 4.5-billion-year-old slabs of meteorite and is said to cost $150 000.
“The creation of the Platinum Mamba was a two-year project involving approximately fifty artisans including some of the most skilled and talented in the industry and from all over the world,” said Alessandro Colombatto.
See last week’s luxury briefing.
