Heatherwick Studio: 'Designing the Extraordinary', V&A Museum

How many of you know this name? Thomas Heatherwick. Does this sound familiar?

Let me put it in another way:

How many of you recognise this picture?

Yes, it is the The Olympic Cauldron designed by "the Leonardo da Vinci of our times" Thomas Heatherwick.

Thomas Heatherwick’s cauldron for London 2012 is a game changer.

Heatherwick’s elegant design celebrates the plurality of the Olympic Games by creating 204 separate flames, one for each competing nation, which then visually unite into one. These individual vessels are made of hand-beaten copper etched with the name of one of the competing countries.

Heatherwick's work is currently the subject of a retrospective at the V&A in London.

This exhibition is the first ever major retrospective on the work of the British designer, one of the most exciting creative practitioners working in the UK today and it will be hosted by the V&A until the 30th of September.

A gallery full of ‘stuff’ − exquisite models, material samples, prototypes and sketches − tells the story of Thomas Heatherwick from his student days at the then Manchester Polytechnic, where he studied 3D Design in the late 1980s, to the international standing he now holds across design disciplines.

Moreover, the team's work to date includes a spinning chair, a rolling bridge, an expandable zip bag, a power station, an 'endless' bench and a brand new bus for London.

The V&A show is not chronological. Exhibition curator Abraham Thomas has opted instead for ‘themes and ideas about questions’ that emerge from Heatherwick’s burgeoning portfolio.

So if you haven’t been there yet, why not come to London and do so?

For pricing and opening time, please refer to the V&A website.

And... Enjoy!

CURIOSITY: Betty, code-named thus by the secretive organisers in honour of the executive producer's dog, the Olympic cauldron has moved away from centre stage after an elegant opening ceremony performance. For this reason the flame has been deliberately put out in order to relocate the massive structure to a new part of the stadium on the night between Sunday 29th and Monday 30th July. The Olympic organizers moved the flame to a holding lantern while the cauldron was put out and relocated. 

S.