Pyrex is the original heat-resistant glass ovenware introduced in the early 1900s, and the trusted name for generations of homemakers. It’s still an innovator in the cookware scene, 100 years on.   In May, World Kitchen engaged Big Kahuna Imagineering to realise Pyrex’s 100-year anniversary display in the windows of David Jones’ Sydney and Melbourne stores.

We used an array of the brand’s functional products, in different shapes and sizes, to create a kinetic artwork called LOVE Pyrex.

The artwork featured two silhouettes of a male and female face, crafted from Pyrex products. Using diamond cutters, we bored tiny holes for to harness the products imperceptibly, with either fine Kevlar or sheathed stainless steel multi-strand trace.

But this was no static display. Several Pyrex elements of each face were programmed to move, creating the sense that we had animated the facial expressions. The faces were also backlit via a screen medium, with coloured light projected against a matte background.

For the stylistically active elements (including eye and lip motions and lighting), we used a suspension matrix via PLC (programmable logic controlled) governed motion actuators. These were rigged out of view, between the arms of a calliper-like frame constructed from steel RHS (rectangular hollow section). A challenge was the vastly different sizes of the Sydney and Melbourne settings, a problem we solved by mounting the whole installation on a scalable module comprising extrusion aluminium arms.

Completing the installation was a neon-lit illumination of the Pyrex logo, and a set of accompanying original soundtracks crafted specifically for the Sydney or Melbourne settings.  Listen here Sydney or Melbourne