Mantis BS1

A great admirer of Alexander Calder, Bernard Schottlander created a series of lighting fixtures called MANTIS in 1951. Movement is the source of inspiration for all of Schottlander's work: artist, engineer-tinkerer, he developed an ingenious pivot-counterweight system, and uses flexible and resistant metal rods. Projected into the air like an acrobat, the spun aluminium reflector is innovative: the sculptor's eye carves it in helical movement: symmetry pulls the asymmetry. These lights, playing on the tension between balance and imbalance, drawing the secrets of emptiness and fullness, like mobiles, seem to defy the laws of gravity. The poetry of the object invites you to dream; elegance on a thread...