Floating Cloud, a magnetically levitating ambient lamp. The project is a collaboration between the two companies – merging the innovative levitation technology developed by Crealev with the form and function of the Cloud product of Richard Clarkson Studio.

In December 2014 a small company from Eindhoven called Crealev reached out to us asking if we were open to a collaboration. They explained they had developed a magnetic levitation technology and were looking to create a range of showcase products to really show some of the possibilities of the technology. They had seen our Cloud products and thought that it would be a match made in heaven to combine them. We very much thought so too!

One idea for the magnetic platform was to give it a more natural form as if the Cloud were levitating over a pond or lake. The team at Crealev came up with a clear way to achieve this using a piece of mirrored glass and a wooden frame shaped into an organic blob shape. The effect of this was stunning and the mirrored glass made it feel as if the Cloud was levitating twice the height.

The next challenge was powering the Cloud itself, so that it would be wireless while it floated. A key point of what-ever we put into the Cloud was that it had to be as lightweight as possible in order not to reduce the levitation height. We settled on a LiPo battery that had a decent storage capacity without being too heavy. We used a much smaller speaker than what is inside our Speaker Cloud product.

Together with Crealev we shot a promotional video of the prototype to celebrate the collaboration and share with the world. We named the collaboration Making Weather suggesting that it is a work in progress, but also nods to people’s ability to set the mood (atmosphere) in their own spaces. It wasn’t long before design blogs and international media picked up the piece and inquiries about a commercial version flooded in.