Photo by Gesy Schilling – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

At DesignMiami/ 2014, Perrier-Jouët presented Ephemerā, a mishievious installation by Vienna based design studio mischer’traxler that meshes the champagne Art Nouveau heritage with contemporary design and plays on the magical dialogue between mankind and nature.

Photo by Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

A great table enchants the audience with a delicate game of hide-and-seek, played out through a mechanical ornamental garden botanical motifs on its top. It appears alive when seen from afar, as plants and insects move, following their own gentle choreography. However when someone comes close, the garden disappears shyly.

Photo by Gesy Schilling – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

A mirror with a life of its own stands out in the room. From a distance, flowers grow across the glass, up and even out of the wooden frame, extending to the wall. On closer inspection, the plant will retract, and the mirror becomes just that, a mirror.

Detail f the graphic design from the booklet of Ephemerā exhibition at DesignMiami/ 2015 – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

RELATED STORY: When furniture misbehaves. Weng Xinyu designed an angry lamp switches itself off when left alone in the room, a picture frame that blurr pimages if not caressed and a a suicidal (and cheeky) wall clock that secretly attempts to saw its face off as soon as everybody leaves it alone.

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Mankind has always been fascinated by Nature constant spectacle of surprises and exquisite visions. The Ephemerā installation is the first work of the Small Discoveries serie that Perrier-Jouët has commissioned to mischer’traxler to stimulate curiosity trhough enchanting interactions.

Photo by Gesy Schilling – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler says “Nature is bound by momentum and instinct. We have all experienced the reaction of a snail when we lightly touch it, or if we approach a wild animal. We react to nature and nature reacts to us… This fleeting moment, and sense of untouchable closeness is at the heart of the Ephemerā installation”.

Photos by Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

RELATED STORY – DesignMiami/2014: Chamber Gallery & Pin Up Magazine challenged the sweet tooth of Victor & Rolf, Alessandro Mendini, Studio Job and other estabilished designers who created bespoke cakes.

Chamber Cakes – Photo by Madison McGaw.

Beauty, craftmanship, Nature and a pinch of melancholy for the fragments of happiness that won’t last forever but can always return…  The main inspiration of the Ephemerā installation was Art Nouveau, Perrier-Jouët style imprint. The motifs featured in the furniture pieces signify biodiversity, by representing extinct, widely spread and rediscovered species. They highlight that we should not take nature for granted and treat it with respect.

Photos by Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

“Each part of the installation needed many steps. From carpentry and manual mechanical work, to contemporary production- methods like water-jet and laser cutting, we combined old and new techniques. Custom made pieces were developed for the kinetic mechanics and for the hidden motors”.

Photo by Gesy Schilling – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.

RELATED STORY – DesignMiami/2014: Maarten de Ceulaer presented the Grids series, a cyborg-like surface of light made with a wavy wood plank featuring wireless LEDs-circuit technology.

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Photo by Gesy Schilling – Courtesy of Perrier Jouët.