The inspiring power of creativity and art is something that must be shared. As such, Dror Benshetrit’s new 4.5-metre high “Reach” sculpture does exactly that as it represents an open stairway that reaches to the sky.
Benshetrit recently donated the sculpture to a community arts centre in Brazil, the Casa da Criança Amor & Art.
The entire sculpture, weighing in at 1.5 tons, is composed of QuaDror squares. The fabrication of Reach was made possible with the support of Brazilian steel company Mekal, and with help of Industrial Origami folding technology.
Word from Benshetrit’s office in New York is that while the designer was in Cape Town in February 2011, speaking at Design Indaba Conference and launching the QuaDror system, Benshetrit was introduced to the organiser of the BoomSPDesign conference in Sao Paulo. It was through this connection, in turn, that Benshetrit was introduced to Mekal, who sponsored the sculpture.
“You [Design Indaba] set the ground for lots of seeds that have grown or opened up other opportunities,” says Melanie Courbet of the communications and development department of Studio Dror.
Here is the studio’s explanation of the making of Reach: “The sculpture piece consists of assembled QuaDror squares, clustered in a way to form an open stairway to the sky. The QuaDror geometry is one that Dror discovered in 2006 and which he has since investigated in a cross-disciplinary and collaborative environment. The unique geometry has unfolded a wide scope of advantages for construction that lead to design application ideas for product and architecture.”