A Swarm of Handmade Bugs Is Buzzing in London

As part of the London Design Festival, the V&A’s Norfolk House Music Room has been filled with 250 mouth-blown crystal glass globes, each containing a handmade insect. Called Curiosity Cloud, the piece, which takes its inspiration from Art Noveau, is by Austrian designers mischer’traxler and is a collaboration with Perrier-Jouët.

The interactive installation features 25 species covering three categories—extinct, common, and newly discovered—which react to visitors as they approach them. The globes hang from the ceiling at different lengths, with different sized ones corresponding to the categories.

Initially the insects seem quiet and serene, with a few bulbs lit up and some small movement, but as people get closer to the canopy of globes sensors detect your movement and the globes light up, the insects come to life, fluttering around inside their glass homes and emitting a buzzing sound.

The piece is the latest part of the design duo's Small Discoveries project, which explores our relationship with nature. "Curiosity Cloud is about celebrating a moment in nature and the relationship that humans have with the entomological world,” says the design duo. "We are very fascinated how nature works as a very clever system. Everything is connected and has an effect on each other. There is a lot we can learn from. In addition, nature obviously has a lot of beauty to offer and a lot of shapes and colours that are just inspiring. Most of the time when we go for walks in nature there is something that inspires us."

Click here to learn more about Curiosity Cloud.

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