inspiration

More than a hundred years ago, sponge divers found an extraordinary mechanism at the bottom of the sea near the island of Antikythera. This finding astonished experts of the ancient world, internationally. Was it an astrolabe? Was it an orrery or an astronomical clock? Or was it something else?

For decades, scientific investigation failed to yield much light and relied more on imagination than the facts. However, research the last half century has begun to reveal its secrets. The machine dates from around the end of the 2nd century B.C and is the most sophisticated known from the ancient world.

The Antikyther Mechanism is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomen and operates as a complex mechanical ¨computer¨ which tracks the cycles of the Solar System.

The Antikythera Collection

Inspired by the extraordinary ancient mechanism, Anastasia Koutsampela created the Antikythera Collection.

She experiments with the universal idea of time, trying to transform its rigid reference frame to an object of art, full of plasticity and semantic interpretation.
Considering there is no natural gear in nature, these round toothed objects, with their synchronized impulse transmitting motion, are one of the most revolutionary discoveries of humanity.

Observing for years the different shapes, functionally and use, she discovered a charming inspirational world.

Αnastasia΄s gears symbolize the motion equating life to evolution and to creation. The gears represent artistically the continuous evolving flow of humanity.

The gears are minimal and abstract and when combined together they create a whole of new form, such flowers, wings, crown.

Every gear tooth or cog is designed by hand, beginning with a sketch and then is shaped and modeled in wax. Afterwards, she starts to assemble the silver, cutting and bonding together the individual pieces.

Αnastasia uses a unique structure based on perspective, without the use of computer of graphic design software.

antikythera-rings

ANTIKYTHERA