Ars CrystallographicaLight & Objects.
Luminous sculptures born from the hidden geometry of crystals — photographed under polarised light, hand-printed on acrylic glass, and lit from within.
Sixteen bodies of light
Each motif is a real crystal seen under the polarising microscope, screen-printed onto a curved acrylic column and lit from within. Issued as an edition of eighteen — numbered, dated and signed.
Twelve living forms
A second series drawn not from crystals but from life itself — capillary casts, cell structures, insect cuticles and the compound eye of a fruit fly, seen under the microscope and translated into light.
Backlit pictures
The same polarised-light images as luminous framed pictures — flat bodies of colour to hang on a wall, lit from behind.
Where science becomes light
Working from his atelier in the Colingasse in the old town of Innsbruck, Winfried Platzgummer joins two worlds that rarely meet: the exact science of crystallography and the free hand of the printmaker.
The source images are real crystals seen through the polarising microscope — a collaboration with crystallographer Ulrich Griesser. Each is composed, printed onto acrylic and built by hand on beechwood, granite or birch, so that a diffraction pattern becomes something you can switch on in a living room.
The work is gathered under two names — Ars Crystallographica and Ars Morphologica — an ongoing study of the forms that light and matter make together.
Printed on light itself
A slow, physical process — closer to printmaking than manufacture. No two columns are identical.
- Technique
- Four-colour multiple screen print on acrylic glassColour cured into a curved 82 cm shade
- Edition
- 18 per motif — numbered, dated & signedMost motifs now down to their final few
- Shade
- 82 cm high · 26 cm diameter
- Total height
- 157–185 cmBeechwood & granite, sand-filled acrylic, or a birch trunk base
- Light
- LED core — colour-variable, dimmable, remoteOr a warm LED bulb for a fixed glow
Bring one home
Editions are limited and several motifs are nearly sold out. Write or call to check availability, arrange a viewing at the Innsbruck atelier, or commission a base to suit your room.