Maker's Story

The born and bred Amsterdammer Tycho van Iwaarden teamed up with the New Yorker, Fred Pereira in 2014. Tycho studied at the Amsterdam Art Academy, then has worked with lighting at several prestigious theatres and event across Europe. Fred, educated as a physicist and then with a wide range of jobs, but always with the desire to be an artist. Now they have a creative and productive partnership specialising is unique solutions to aesthetic challenges, from grand chandeliers to crystal light bulbs

“Bright artwork for colourful people”.

The Process

One of the key creative foundations of Lux Vortex is their understanding of the laws of physics relating to light. This knowledge helps them add to the obvious techniques of dimming and obscuring with the understanding of how light can bend and be shaped and sculptured. Another area of development is their interest is cutting edge theatrical software, which has been particularly relevant when making large, bespoke, chandeliers and resulting in dynamic, choreographed effects.

Both Tycho and Fred are driven to contribute and add on a wider scale using interesting and products like selenite crystals, left over from fossil hunting and wood from old, wind, felled Dutch trees for example.

Products

Q&A

What motivates you to make?

Our dream is to make art for the rest of our lives, lots of different projects, big ones and small ones and ones you can’t even imagine.

To keep learning, to understand more, to share what we know.

To help people to forget about politics and pandemics and just feel good.

To make beautiful things.

What and/or who are you most inspired or influenced by?

We are inspired by those who used the technology of their times and have already put important parts of the puzzle together.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Pythagoras searched for beauty in geometry, Da Vinci in natural law, Mozart used music, Monet texture, Picasso form and feature, of course there are many more.

The artworks we create are the puzzle pieces we can find.

What is your unique approach to your craft and how have you honed your skills?

We work creatively as a team, our knowledge and skills compliment each other and spur us to know more and find new solutions. We work mostly by ourselves, hiring creative freelancers for specific processes, but this slows things down. We have a good understanding of the theory and, through experience, the practise of what can be done. We like challenges and strive to use our knowledge and experience to make remarkable and beautiful things.

What is your defining or proudest moment as a maker so far?

Big projects are fun. We build gigantic chandeliers 11 meters tall, with hundreds of colourful lights, each one handmade and individually controlled, all choreographed by cutting edge theatrical software. We install them in challenging locations.

These designs allow us to push our limits and showcase our skills.

We are also very proud when we can take lessons learned from large, extravagant projects and refine them into something simpler with the same feel as it’s bigger brother. This can be a lot of hard work but it is rewarding as it enables us to reach a broader audience .

What is your dream project?

It is very difficult to name a specific project. As mentioned before our dream is to make functional art or craft for the rest of our lives. Lots of different projects, big ones and small ones and ones you can’t even imagine.

To keep learning, to understand more, to share what we know.

To make beautiful things.

So nothing specific but that is our dream.