Lightness of Being

Art designer Linda Procházka created two products specifically for the Kvalitář Gallery, which has a long-standing interest in presenting artists who aim for spiritual depth and knowledge. Time is recorded by an hourglass in which glass is replaced by a luminescent fluid that radiates when it comes into contact with light. Hence the title: Lightness of Being. In the case of the second product, Procházka made use of the unique properties of glass for dampening and refracting the flow of light – the result is a hand-cut kaleidoscope called Lightness of Seeing.

“We perceive time differently in every situation and mental state. Due to its physical properties, the filling in the transportable table lamp does not always flow equally – sometimes it stops and sometimes it speeds up. The movement in the fluid also brings up different and unexpected effects each time, such as bubbles, droplets, whirlpools, or foam – just as happens in our own lives,” says Procházka of the Lightness of Being project. The lamp is made from highly resistant technical glass. The special solution inside was developed by ChemLight, a Czech company, and after being illuminated with UV light, it lights up in blue, orange, or yellow.

Lightness of Seeing is a beautiful object at first sight, and it invites one to pick it up and begin looking around in new ways. “Glass is a fragile and expensive material, which is why objects made from it are usually approached gingerly. I chose the opposite approach and designed an object made of glass that was hand-cut at a glassworks – it works as a kaleidoscope. If you look inside, every cut surface reflects the world around you from a slightly different angle,” explains the artist.

A pair of cotton gloves called Lightness of Art Collecting will also surely become a specialty item for every art collector – they are to be used for handling art objects. It will thus complement the products mentioned above, which will be available exclusively at the Kvalitář Gallery.

Linda Procházka graduated from Michal Froněk and Jan Němeček’s product design studio at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, with exchanges to Eva Eisler’s K.O.V. studio at the same school and at IADE in Lisbon. She also studied industrial design in Marian Karel’s studio at the Architecture Faculty of the Czech Technical University. In 2017, her diploma work Birth of Light was nominated for the Stanislav Libenský Award. Until 2020, Procházka was based in London, where she worked as a designer for the Czech company Lasvit, which specialises in the production of light installations from traditional Czech glass.