BETHAN LAURA WOOD’S LABYRINTH DREAMS FOR BOCCI
For the debut of the Purple 14p, Bocci invited British designer Bethan Laura Wood to build Labyrinth Dreams, an installation at London Design Festival that we haven’t been able to stop looking at. Bethan is a big fan of 80s fantasy, and the first time she saw the soft purple glass it reminded her of the Labyrinth poster, David Bowie holding a lilac-tinted crystal ball. She nicknamed it the Bowie Ball, and the whole installation grew from there.
What she built is a landscape of colorful totems for the 14p to move through, pulling from the M.C. Escher-like architecture of the film’s final scenes and the real-life geometry of Ricardo Bofill’s La Muralla Roja. The towers are finished in flat, matte blancmange tones, chosen so they frame the light without competing with it. The 14p is hand-cast in Alexandrite glass and shifts between lilac, pink, blue, and smoky tones depending on the environment, so the installation was designed around an object that never looks the same twice.
Bocci’s 14 series has been around long enough to feel iconic, and this collaboration is a good reminder of why. Bethan’s playful, material-driven approach sits perfectly alongside a studio that’s spent years turning glass experiments into pieces that work in real homes, and Labyrinth Dreams feels like both of them at their best.
Read the full interview below.
The whole installation began with your first encounter with the Purple 14p reminding you of Bowie in Labyrinth. Can you tell us that story, and how a nickname turned into the concept for Labyrinth Dreams?
I’m a big fan of 80’s fantasy and of course David Bowie, when I saw the 14p and its soft purple colour it totally reminded me of the art work for the movie where Bowie holds a lilac tinted glass ball. In the movie and behind the scenes film I always loved watching how they got the juggler to stand behind Bowie to make it look like he performs with these magic glass balls. They are present throughout the movie and turn at one point into a bubble portal into a fantasy dance moment and I loved the way this connected with the movement and portability of the 14p.
You built a landscape of colorful totems where the 14p plays protagonist. How did the installation take shape, and what went into composing that fantasy?
I decided to take a mix of references from the M.C. Escher like architecture of the final scenes of the movie with real life architecture of Ricardo Bofill’s La Muralla Roja. I wanted to make the 14p the protagonist of the adventure moving in and around the different maze towers in these soft blancmange colours that complemented the colour of the glass and dappled shadow cast from the light.
The Purple 14p is hand-cast in Alexandrite glass and shifts between lilac, pink, blue, and smoky tones as the light changes. What was it like designing around an object that never holds still, and how does that connect to your fascination with color and memory?
I love the way the colour changes depending on the environment it’s in. I wanted to find a way to make an installation that offered different framings to see the 14p, but that also allowed you to see its details and not overpower these with too much pattern interference. That’s why I chose a flat matte colour palette.
Your work is grounded in experimentation and material investigation but always connects back to contemporary living. What did the collaboration with Bocci let you explore that you hadn’t before?
I really enjoyed getting to know more about Bocci and both this product and others in their range, I like how they combine material experimentation with a commercial product that also can work in many types of homes and spaces.
Photos by Ed Reeve
