One of several installations making up the Gucci Cosmos exhibition in London, the Cabinet of Wonders was a revolving masterpiece. A 2.8m cubed cabinet packed full of technology, its deep red high-end finish concealed doors and drawers that slowly slid open to reveal the Gucci treasures held inside.

Developed in close conjunction with designer Es Devlin, and curator Maria Luisa Frisa, the cube was programmed with an automated time code sequence. The plug & play custom control set up was operated by the exhibition’s curative team via iPad, delivering a reveal faithful to how it was envisioned. Each cube rotation took approximately two and a half minutes.

Designed and built for the purpose of touring, each unit was an independent mechanical component. The structure was test built in one of our hangars in Tockwith and soak tested to assess both load bearing and functional performance.

Initial sketch to install took approx. 12 weeks. Being fully modular, demounting after the event took 6 hours. Housing 32 motors, 22 axes of control, miles of wiring and tens of thousands of fixings, the automation was as complex as that of a stadium event but in an incredibly compact space. Everything about this project was extraordinary and our team delivered an astonishing execution.