23 September 2019
Gemfields Enters the VOID
A highlight this month included VOID; a multi-sensory spatial installation presented by designer Dan Tobin Smith and creative studio The Experience Machine in partnership with Gemfields.
Held at Collins Music Hall, Islington, as part of London Design Festival 2019, VOID attracted over four thousand attendees from 14-22 September.
Visitors were invited to become part of an immersive experience, travelling through a series of large-scale projections that showcased the mysterious beauty of the inclusions within gemstones, scored with harmonised layers of the human voice – by female electronic drone choir NYX.
A selection of Mozambican rubies and Zambian emeralds from Gemfields alongside other semi-precious gems were also showcased; some of which were actually filmed for VOID, which highlighted the tiny scales involved and how so much can be enveloped into something so small.
A series of special events took place including gemstone masterclasses and live performances by NYX.
Held by renowned gemmologist and jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy and VOID designer Dan Tobin Smith, the masterclasses comprised an intimate group walk with Joanna detailing the history, origin and unique attributes of gemstones, while Dan discussed his passion for inclusions and explained the process of filming and projecting the gems for VOID.
The live performances by NYX, a collaborative drone choir and otherworldly electric chorus, re-embodied live electronics and extended vocal techniques. An experiential exploration of ambient noise and electronic music, NYX made ecstatic sonic landscapes, punctuated with acoustic glitches, polyphonic overtones and electric textures.
VOID was also visited by global media including; Whitewall, Hole & Corner, Mine, Dezeen, Another, Dazed, Nowness, WWD, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Australian Financial Review, Luxury Daily, Telegraph, Wallpaper, Tatler, Vogue, Vogue India, Elle Decoration Italy and Forbes.com to name a few, with extensive coverage secured across international titles.