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(Archive) Ordinary Miracles

We take them for granted, but they provide infinite wonder: the ordinary miracles that surround us every moment of our lives.

This project was part of DDW 2022
Ordinary Miracles: light, colour and perspectives — © Design & Practice

Following their successful manifestation 'Stilled Life' in 2019, Rive Roshan returns to DDW22 with 'Ordinary Miracles', an immersive installation that plays with perception, perspective and reflection. At the brand new Dutch Design Week location LOADS 040.

Ordinary Miracles

The title 'Ordinary Miracles' refers to the marvel of natural phenomena that we have learned to take for granted, yet hold so much magical complexity and visual depth. The designers share with us their visual fascination with something as small as a raindrop on a window, which reflects light like a lens and changes slowly. “Our inspiration is not nature itself, but how nature affects us. A raindrop that drips very elegantly past a window carrying an entire scene within it, we want to capture that moment of stillness," say Ruben de la Rive Box and Golnar Roshan of studio Rive Roshan.

In their new presentation Ordinary Miracles, Rive Roshan bring these phenomena to our attention and stimulate our senses. The designers show parallel, layered experiences in which nothing is what it seems. They play with material, light, shadow, reflection and movement. With their objects they know how to enrich us in the way we view our world. By playing with perception, they offer us 'shifting perspectives'.

A performance of projection and reflection

The new Colour Dial Carpets collection for Moooi Carpets form fields of colour in the large and high furniture warehouse of LOADS 040. Inspired by the transparent glass Colour Dial Table that acts as an abstract sundial, the carpets with geometric compositions of circle, oval and square shapes, have a similar layered expression. Each carpet is an artwork composed of layered spray paint textures and transitioning colours.

A series of reflective objects capture the surrounding environment. There are moments of surprise in the constant transformation of the objects like a chameleon: the six sculptural panels, the glass of the table, the circle of polished steel that rotates in mid-air; revealing the beauty of the projection and reflection of light, of geometric shadows and creating an infinite space within the space. It is as if the astonishing 'moving still lives' are staging a performance in a theatrical setting.

Metaphysical experience

The idea behind the Ordinary Miracles manifestation is that we start to look more consciously and thoughtfully at our environment and act with more attention and care, according to Golnar and Ruben.
In this way, Rive Roshan once again offers the visitor an immersive spatial, metaphysical experience, as a follow-up to the successful sculptural landscape Stilled Life during DDW 2019.

Alongside Ordinary Miracles Rive Roshan presents an exhibition of Form Editions at the same location. The founders of this platform carefully curated collectible design from talented designers and artists. This years curation features a series of works taking inspiration from natural materials and turning them into functional art-objects. Form Editions is aimed at connecting creators and collectors and drawing attention to work at the intersection of art and design.

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Positive Space as seen in Museum JAN — © Design & Practice

Stilled Life by Rive Roshan - DDW2019 — © Design & Practice

Stilled Life by Rive Roshan - DDW19 — © Design & Practice

Colour Dial Detail