Commission the Edelweiss Artist – Goldfinch – to create a unique Live Musical Art Sculpture.
Goldfinch will not compromise on their definition of a Live Musical Art Sculpture: that is the beautifully distinctive sound of felt-hammers-hitting-tensioned-piano-wire, in real time, from within an art sculpture. Although it is possible to create a realistic digitalised version of a real sound you lose that authenticity and purity, the sound of a piano playing real time cannot be perfectly reproduced digitally – ask any classical pianist.
Unless you want to build an enormous sculpture, you must have a very small piano inside it.
At the musical heart of every Goldfinch Sculpture you will find the Edelweiss S132, it can be specially manufactured as a rimless version making it ideal for such applications; it will fit within amazingly small apertures without upsetting the external form of the sculpture, and having such an outstanding piano inside you can be confident of the musical performance. There is no other acoustic piano that is really suited to this application.
Whilst the majority of our projects we are not allowed to reveal, as they are protected by non-disclosure agreements, we are pleased to share the following projects with you.
Produced in collaboration with Ambika Hinduja of Impeccable Imagination
Deeply inspired by nature, Hinduja looked at autumnal leaves as the starting point for her piece.
Distilling her inspiration into a harmonious form, she created a sculptural, artistic interpretation of the leaf, replicating the essence of nature in a semi-abstract form.
She approached Goldfinch asking for an invitation to meet the team to help bring her dream to life.
Goldfinch then took her design inspiration and initial concepts and painstakingly morphed it around a real acoustic piano – still maintaining the intrinsic beauty of the form – to finally produce a detailed concept that represented the essence of when art and music coalesce.
The sculpture is cast in bronze and clad in 22.5 karat moon-gold leaf, replicating the textures of nature. From a distance, the sculptural silhouette of the curled, dried shape of the leaf creates a vacillating illusion of its appearance, from the abstract to the real until the lid is lifted to reveal the glistening black and white keys held open by a thin twig-like curvilinear support.
From above, the sculpture reveals the exposed frame and soundboard and is from this point of view that the natural form of the sculpture comes to life, revealing the elongated, elegant form from tip to petiole. The back of the sculpture features two sets of mesh-covered circular holes, essential for sound functionality but at the same time referencing the natural features of fallen leaves. To contribute to the piece’s distinctive aesthetic the stool for the pianist is shaped like a small pebble covered in the same moon gold 22.5 karat gold leaf.
Based-Upon approached Goldfinch asking for an opportunity to discuss a collaboration that involved converting a popular sculptural table they produced into a musical art creation.
The challenge was firstly to fit the piano inside such a small art creation without corrupting the form, and secondly, when placed inside, to ensure the sound wasn’t impeded.
Goldfinch worked closely with Based-Upon enhancing and developing the design until all areas of the brief were met.
A design chosen from the Goldfinch Vault
Our resident artist, Goldfinch, has a secret vault of feasible design concepts that are regularly worked on, developed, and added to, but very few people are given the opportunity to discover what could be available for them to commission – it is only offered to bona fide discerning clients that come to us wanting to create something truly extraordinary.
The client for the Imperial Egg initially approached with the brief to create a centrepiece for a ballroom that had to be extraordinary – it had to be a creation the world had never seen.
The client was offered an introduction to our resident artist, Goldfinch, and during the initial meetings the client was given access to the coveted design vault to choose a concept that we could explore.
Finally, the Imperial Egg was chosen – a electronically controlled mechanical egg that would close and open to reveal its hidden treasure inside – a golden piano. The whole sculpture is finished in 24 carat gold using specially developed process that was researched and adapted for this application.
