Projects in category: Electronic

Dewars Whisky Distillery Installation

We were contacted by StinkDigital and Mr. President to collaborate on this live kinetic sculpture, which we made to fit inside a sawn off cask for the Dewars Whisky Company.

The installation now sits in Dewar's distillery in Scotland and contains a micro-controller that connects it to the internet, creating a link between their website and their physical premises. Every time someone visits the Dewar's website, numerical lights inside the whisky bottles display the new number of web hits.

This piece also has another incredible and more animate feature... The micro-controller inside this kinetic sculpture also triggers these 3D printed Dewar's logo gears and cogs, to burst into movement every time a set number of website visitors log onto the site (see video below). These parts have all been hand painted and finished to ensure the extra attention to detail required for such a unique piece.

Paper Iron Man

Another impressive collaboration with mighty talented Owen Gildersleeve. We were approached by the organisers of the Silicon Valley Comic Con to create a life-size paper sculpture of Iron Man to help them promote their next event in Tokyo.

The model was built in separate parts in London over a four week period and then the individual components were shipped out to San Jose, California, where we pieced the model together live at the show over the course of the three day event.

60,000 people passed through the San Jose Convention Centre over the weekend and the response to the Iron Man sculpture and performance build was amongst the best we've ever had.

To help support the paper net shell of the sculpture, we used computer aided design software to devise an inner foamboard framework, that would flat-pack, enabling it to be posted over to the American convention centre before the event, ready for assembly onsite. The model also housed an Arduino driven lighting circuit, which we designed to make the "heart reactor" pulse and the eyes flicker. You can see an example video on Owen's Instagram.

You can see more making-of shots as well as some of the amazing costumes from the show on our Instagram.

Colour Tracking Owl

A colour tracking owl made from custom designed, 3d printed parts, with beautiful, autumnal, paper cut feathers, in collaboration with our good friend Owen Gildersleeve.

Tanz Mit Uns / Pssst

An interactive electronic installation, made in collaboration with Dominic Lane. 'Tanz mit uns' uses Flexinol muscle wire (a shape memory alloy), connected to an ultrasonic range sensor, through an Arduino microcontroller, which enables the paper crafted flower to dance in response to human movement.

Sound Installation Hardware

We were commissioned to design and make free-standing metal hardware for a permanent, interactive sound installation for Cleethorpes Acadamy, UK.

The hardware consisted of 6 units designed to house infra-red sensor and 1 lectern that holds an iPad interface. The sensor units pick up and track human movement, which is then processed by specially designed software on the iPad and seamlessly translated into sound.

The equipment will predominantly be used to aid music/sound lessons and performances. The interactive system is great for very young children, as they often do not have the extra dexterity needed to play more traditional musical instruments.


Photographed by: Jon Aaron Green

Ally Capellino Kinetic Hair Window Sculpture

We had an amazing request from the lovely folks at Ally Capellino, to create moving hair sculptures for their London window displays. The hair (based on one of their eye-catching product photo shoots) sat in their shop windows next to their beautiful leather items and would intermittently spring to life, swinging and swooshing about to grab the attention of passersby.

We designed and produced bespoke 3d printed parts, that housed the motors and electronics and custom fit them to Ally Capallino's instore metal and concrete display stands.

Polar Explorers Chest

We were approched by experience and sound designer Jay Harris, to help him develop and create hardware for a sound installation in a museum. Opening the chest triggers rumbling bespoke sound from a concealed speaker within it's base, whilst 3d printed crystals light up and twinkle.

Lush Moving Window Display

A collaboration with Owen Gildersleeve and YCN to create a moving window display for Lush's flagship Oxford Street store in London. The project was based around illustrations by Charlotte Day, that we developed into three-dimensional electronic, mechanical and structural display elements.

K-2SO Silicon Valley Comic Con

A wonderful continuation of our exciting collaborative adventures with Owen Gildersleeve and team. After the hugely positive response to our Iron Man build in 2016, the organisers of the Silicon Valley Comic Con asked us back for a second year, to develop a new paper sculpture to wow the crowds in 2017. With the recent release of the new Star Wars film Rogue One, we all decided that it had to be the incredible new humanoid robot K-2SO!

We used a selection of CAD programs to design and create a usable "life-size" model (measuring in at 2160mm tall) and then to break it down into it's paper net parts, so that Owen and team could set about cutting and assembling this insanely complex jigsaw puzzle of a sculpture.

Due to the robots slim joints, we also needed to devise a new type of framework that could not only hold the paper shell of the model firmly in place, but that could also be dissembled for shipping to the event in San José, California.

To add some life to the model, we also set about prototyping a bespoke mechanism and 3D printed parts, which could be attached and screwed to the paper head form of K2SO, all carefully designed so that the sculpture can also be dissembled and serviced.

We fitted custom-built electronic lights into the head for eyes and a pan/tilt servo motor mechanism into the neck so that the whole head could move, which we then wrote a uniquely coded computer program for, to give it uncanny and unpredictable animation.

DataBloom: HTC Vive Controller Hardware

The super-talented dreamweavers at Marshmallow Laser Feast added Thomas to a team they were putting together, to create Publicis.Sapient’s live-data art installation "DataBloom" at this years Money 20/20 Conference in Amsterdam. Thomas was assigned the task of designing, prototyping and making this stunning controller hardware, that was used to manipulate visuals on a huge graphical display.

The controllers were designed as an extension of the HTC Vive developer module (seen at the base of the controller) and housed additional electronics that were devised by the absolute masterminds at A&E. When the controller is picked up, a sensor in the handle begins reading the users pulse rate. Another sensor in the front ring of the controller can measure the force of the users breath as they blow towards it. Marshmallow Laser Feast were then able to use this realtime data to customise the visual experience of each person that participated in the installation.

Check out Sapient Publicis.Sapient's beatuiful video of the installation below: