“A playful memory from the past can bring a sense of joy to our ever-changing future.”

As a child I used to play with the metal blinds, covering the windows.
By gently shifting the separate horizontal slats with my fingers I could start a game with the exterior light they previously veiled. A game with a captivating effect, a hypnotizing quality.

With Opal, I’ve transformed this memory – the idea of it and the sensation it stood for – into the design of a surface that provokes touch. An apparatus that allows to relive, to re-experience an innocent pleasure. With this work I also aim to re-introduce a sense of tactility to our domestic environment, a setting which is evermore automated.

Opal was developed for the exhibition Enlighten during the Dutch Design Week 2017 at Dutch Invertuals in collaboration with Luxaflex®.

OPAL dutch_invertuals_luxaflex-daniel_de_bruin OPAL dutch_invertuals_luxaflex-daniel_de_bruin 04 low

Photography by Ronald Smits