Lights. Camera. Flashmob! What is a Flashmob? Is it a tanning device? A giant popcorn bag? Perhaps a dance prop from a Cirque du Soleil show? While all are possible guesses, the Flashmob is in fact a light fixture, which gives a nod to the original intention of the material, a light reflecting disk used for photography. Twelve of these discs are twisted and then fastened together to create a giant, two-toned chandelier that feels fanciful and technical at the same time.

Flashmob. Designed by Henny van Nistelrooy.

“These discs work like a spring mechanism and I have fixed its outward force in different shapes by bonding the fabric on specific points to the spring steel ring”. Henny van Nistelrooy

Studio Henny van Nistelrooy specializes in making unexpected relationships between different industries and design disciplines. He focuses on textile materials that allow for a high degree of investigation. The Flashmob originated after an invitation to participate in the Arnhem Fashion Biennale in 2009. Inspired by fashion and photography, the Flashmob chandelier concluded in a sphere that gives off its own light while naturally reflecting the light around it. Another recently reviewed light fixture that comes to mind is Tom Dixon’s Void, which is made from similar light reflecting materials and has a bulbous shape that embraces the material its made from.

Other investigations by Henny van Nistelrooy are far more experimental. His passion for textiles has lead to a series of objects that look frozen in position, like an overly starched shirt. The Flashmob uses the inherent tension and structure of the light reflector to create an object that has energy, as opposed to feeling trapped in time.