Designed as a collaboration between lighting specialist, Andrew Gibson of Tyson Lighting and Vinny Smith of Northern Backdrop Interior Design, Heavy Petal has been fashioned from retro Raleigh bicycles which have been used to create the X Wing Fighter and TIE Interceptor from the iconic movies.
This innovative design installation, recently showcased in science, culture and technology magazine, Wired, has been moved from an exhibition at Tobacco Dock in London where it attracted high profile attention from the media.
Andrew commented: "I decided to use neon-effect Encapsulite fluorescent tubes to bring the ships to life. The ice blue gun tube offers reflections off the ships' chromed body, giving them an 'in flight' appearance, whilst the warm red engine section switches the installation on."
He added: "Vinny was adamant about the positioning of the green Encapsulite tubes on the TIE Interceptor and, I must say, he got it bang on. The finishing touches are clever whilst subtle, replacing original Raleigh badges on the frames as a mark of respect to the components' previous form."
With over 50 years' experience in the lighting industry, Tyson Lighting specialises in the design, manufacture, supply and project management of traditional, bespoke and contemporary lighting. Last year alone, it supplied 1,200 lighting projects to customers in the retail, hotel and leisure sectors both in the UK and internationally.
They have recently up-scaled their custom-made, bespoke manufacturing design division at their headquarters in Blackburn, Lancashire and are currently working on further, high profile bespoke lighting collaborations - due to be announced later this year.
(Jim Evans)
