geronimo inflates melbourne with unexpected joy: 7,000 biodegradable balloons

the second annual melbourne design week is underway until march 25, 2018 — and an LA-based balloon genius is livening up the initiative with a 7,000-piece, biodegradable crescendo of care, on the façade of hub furniture’s new collingwood showroom. that balloon genius: the colorful, jihan zencirli. she peaks around corners. she smiles. celebrating with us, she spins around in her interview to reveal her other name, rainbow-stitched on the back of her white jumper: geronimo. 

all images by eugene hyland

‘all of my work is a love letter,’ geronimo says ‘to the city and to the people I want to connect with in some way.’ her eye-catching installation entitled, ‘diminishing elation’ was designed to delight. balloons are playful by association. they connect us in a joyful way. even without an artist’s tough, they have that ephemeral capacity to bring us joy. but geronimo’s balloons — lovingly clustered, drifting together — have the ability to connect some of us. their connections make diminishing elation, in all of it’s thousands, perfectly celebratory for melbourne design week’s programs, which are being held at NGV international, NGV australia and partner venues across the state. 

at melbourne, events, talks, exhibitions, workshops and panel discussions will explore and celebrate design — highlighting melbourne as one of the design capitals of the world in the process. this year, the 11-day shindig gives local and international designers a chance to respond to the theme of design effects. while many artists look to answering this theme in a literal, practical way — geronimo surprises us with a beautiful building absolutely inflated with joy. to her, design is about that surprise, about joy, and about caring: ‘you care, so you wanna make something that might matter to another person. that’s the magic,’ says geronimo.