Giles Miller, Londen-based Designer | Photography: Richard Chivers
London designer Giles Miller worked with watch brand Shinola to create a pavilion made from 8,000 lightning-bolt-shaped pieces of plywood.
The Bolt has been raised in St John's Square for this year's Clerkenwell Design Week. Miller's team was approached by Shinola, as the brand wanted to showcase its products to an audience in Clerkenwell, as the area has a history with artisan watchmakers. "Shinola approached us as a studio looking to collaborate with the London design and creative community, and the collaboration was forged on our mutual belief in the preservation of craft," Miller told.
Inspired by the brand's Detroit factory, Miller based the form of the structure on piles of supple leather found in the workshops. Each louvre is lightning bolt-shaped – a direct translation of the Shinola motif.
Giles Miller installs louvred plywood in London's Clerkenwell Design Week
The black-painted CNC cut shingles, have been placed by hand onto the structure, and are each angled specifically to control the amount of light that enters the pavilion.
"The structure is a fusion of the character and philosophy of Shinola's factory in Detroit, with our own interest in the composition of materials and surface experimentation," said Miller. "We controlled the surface composition over the building to create a louvred facade, which controls light and vision through the surface by way of the varying angles on the 8,000 components that adorn the building."
As the pavilion is lightweight, it can be easily disassembled, stored and transported. Its skeleton can also be adapted to suit different environments.
About Giles Miller Studio
London-based design practice, Giles Miller Studio, specialises in the development of truly innovative surfaces for interior, hospitality and retail design projects.