Young Dutch designer Bertjan Pot is the creative mind behind the art installation ‘Stairway to Heaven’ at the GrandCafe-Wennekerpand in Schiedam in Holland. The design choice for the project came about purely by chance. The studio had just taken delivery of a new safety ladder they had previously ordered. On seeing the ladder, the designer mentally paired it, upside-down, adorned with a string of sparking carnival lights that had been left over from a previous project.
The result is a brilliant contradiction of industrial and fairground glitz which perfectly suits the well designed space of the GrandCafe, already hosting a sparkly contribution by the art collective Rotganzen, which resembles a ‘melting’ disco ball. The cafe itself is a high ceilinged semi industrial space, a former distillery reborn as a cultural centre and housing a theatre school, dance studios and a cinema.
Stairway to Heaven was awarded first prize in the Frame Moooi Award and the piece will go into production and be available in a variety of sizes in a forthcoming Moooi catalogue.
