Our contribution to Mirage, a site-specific artwork in California

We're very excited that we played a tiny part in an amazing art project. One that, much like our sandcast jewellery, encapsulates a sense of place through the use of sand from special places...

In summer 2022 we were approached by Scottish artist Katie Paterson and architecture studio Zeller & Moye and asked if we would be happy to spare some sand from our extensive collection to help in the production of a large-scale public artwork.

The collaboration between artist and studio is set within Apple Park’s visitor centre in California and consists of glass cylinders cast from sand collected from every desert in the world. Over four hundred of these 1.8m tall cylinders now snake around the olive groves of the park, creating dune like forms for the public to walk through and interact with.

A priority for the team was to source the sand in sustainable and ethical ways. They worked closely with UNESCO and their global network of geologists, as well as regional communities across the world, to ensure the sand was collected carefully and with little to no environmental impact. Some desert sands were particularly hard to come by, so they reached out to other organisations that might be able to help - and we happened to be one of them!

We supplied some sand from Black Rock, Nevada in the States, which was originally sent to us by one of our customers to cast their two rings in - luckily there was some leftover! Our contribution now forms part of this incredible project, adding to the different colours and textures of the enormous sculpture.

 

‘Mirage creates an experience of being enveloped by Earth’s sublime spaces. Each piece of glass is a portal to otherworldly landscapes. Our hope is that Mirage creates a sensory experience that will ignite the imagination, connect visitors to the vastness of the Earth, and its precious wilderness.’ - Paterson

 

We were delighted to help with the project and really pleased to receive an unexpected thank you gift in the post. Included in the gift was a small box containing all the sands that make up the artwork – a tiny amount from each desert in the world!

The box is sealed shut and won’t be used for casting but will sit pride of place within our collection, nonetheless.

If you’d like to find out more about the project, you can read about Mirage here.

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