eske rex: drawing machine

 ‘drawing machine’ by eske rex

two towers weighted with pendulums create elaborate ink spirograph images in ‘drawing machine’, by swedish-born, copenhagen-based designer eske rex, on display at the mindcraft 11 exhibit of danish craft during milan design week 2011.

a departure from the renaissance interest in pendulums and the harmonographs of the mid-19th century,  the device is composed of two nine-foot (2.7m) tall pyramidal structures, from the center of each of which is suspended a weighted pendulum. the weight of the pendulums can be adjusted to up to 165 pounds (75kg), by adding and removing slotted concrete disks that are otherwise stored along the base of the towers. more weight produces smaller circles on the paper, while less weight enables a greater swing of the pendulum and thus larger circles.

once set into motion by hand, the pendulums, linked together at the site of the pen, continue in motion from the transfer one another’s kinetic energy. the images produced can range up to nine feet by nine feet in size, and can be produced with any ink pen, in either monochrome or multicolour by switching pens in and out during the production process.

for milan design week, rex planned to let the machine run continuously to produce a single image each day, stopping it only to swap pens in and out. he confessed to having thousands of pens on hand for potential use over the six days of the exhibition.

video of ‘drawing machine’ at work

‘drawing machine’ on exhibition during milan design week 2011 image © designboom

four of the finished images

detail view on a produced image image © designboom

the machine at work image © designboom

closer view of the pen and writing arms image © designboom

the pieces can be produced in one or many colours, by switching out the pen image at right © designboom

view of the pendulum and writing arm image © designboom

the weighted disks can be swapped in and out to affect the size of the circles drawn; when not in use they hang on the base of the tower image © designboom

detail view of the weights and pendulum