What do you see when you look in the mirror? English designer Bethan Laura Wood explores the complexities that surround reflection and mirroring in our society, and how we can better understand who’s looking back. Hooptical for Cassina is interactive, illusory, and not what it seems at first – a poetic connection between product and idea. Featuring colorful rings that extend from the surface of the mirrors, ornamentation is on display here, a comment on how we dress up our appearances to be perceived in a certain way. The rings form an optical illusion, semicircular “hoops” encased in a mirror’s edge.
Like many optical illusions, the surface of the mirror presents half the story: rings made of three types of molded glass – natural, cased, and metallized – adorn the surface. Their reflection makes them whole, another more complex observation to consider: do our reflections do the same for us? Are we only half of ourselves, with no one to observe us?
Available in Square (50 x 50 cm or 90 x 90 cm) and Rectangular (50 x 160 cm), Hooptical features handcrafted glass elements that form the rings, seemingly suspended in space. Not only is the mirror itself backlit, but the rings are as well, enabling a delicate glow to emanate from the surface of the glass. All about interaction, the lights are controlled by hand motions along the surface of the glass, elegant and memorable feedback that paves the way for more haptic features in the future.
Hooptical comes in three color groups: transparent and light green double decoration, emerald and purple double decoration, and purple and pink decoration.
Bethan Laura Wood is a multidisciplinary designer, working across furniture design, art, textile design, and home accessories, adding her specific style to a multitude of objects. Innately inspired by the colors of nature, she strives to integrate these beautiful hues into her work, favoring distinctly natural color palettes, even among an explosion of color. A true collector herself, she is fascinated with the connections we form with objects, and what happens when they are discarded. This process is continually clear in her work, engaging in themes of love, loss, and attachment.
To learn more about the Hooptical Mirrors by Bethan Laura Wood for Cassina, please visit cassina.com.
Photography courtesy of Cassina.
