FLOATING OF INFINITY
To celebrate the craft of Gold Leaf by designing a radical new application to redefine its relevance. In this project the goal is to educate the new generation on the historical craft but also to show the miraculous characteristics of our natural commodities in a more holistic way. The Floating of Infinity is a balloon, designed with reference to Chinese Lampoon making in mind. The balloon is constructed from leaf gold of 4 micron thickness, on a layer of rice paper of 15 micron thickness. Gold has the highest atomic density of all our earthly materials, so dense is the atomic lattice that even our smallest and lightest particle, Hydrogen, cannot pass through the 4 micron Gold Leaf. This was the premise for designing and fabricating this balloon in close collaboration with the Gold Leaf producers of Nanjing. In the Yin & Yang philosophy there is a balance between opposites and so also in this balloon there is a precarious balance between Earth’s heaviest element gold and our lightest element Hydrogen. The high density of the Gold ensures that the Hydrogen can never escape. This gold balloon can float forever in our Earthly domain.