MB&F’s M.A.D.Gallery turns 15, and the party piece is fittingly mechanical and a touch otherworldly. Frank Buchwald returns with the ML15 Helios, a limited series of 15 machine lights that distill his retro-futurist language into a calm, radiant core.
Helios is imagined as a mechanical sun. A spherical lamp sits at the center, encircled by a luminous ring that hints at a solar corona. Two transparent blue rings frame the orb, somewhere between instrument and eye. It looks as if it has intentions, which is half the charm.
Buchwald builds by hand, then refines by hand again. Even laser-cut parts are reworked at the bench. The long hours go not to assembly but to proportion and poise – the quiet edits that make an object feel inevitable rather than forced.
The technical notes are straightforward. Materials: stainless steel with brass elements. Weight: 9 kg. Limitation: 15 pieces. Price: CHF 12’000.- excl. taxes. Dimensions, as provided: width 350 mm x height 440 cm – depth 460 cm.
There is a certain symmetry here. In 2011, Buchwald’s Machine Lights helped define the M.A.D.Gallery as a home for mechanical art that did not slot neatly into watch trays or white-cube walls. A decade and a half on, Helios reads like a concise statement of that mission – engineered rigor, artistic intent, zero theatrics.
For watch people, the appeal is familiar. Structure is legible, surfaces are honest, and the light itself becomes the complication. It will not time your day, but it will measure it with presence. That feels like an apt anniversary toast.
Leave a Reply