Kinetic Chandelier: Yakuza Lou by Eddy Sykes

Back in grade school, whenever we were bored in class, some intrepid student would make a game by folding a paper at the corners so that it turned into four-sided origami. The creator of this Fortune Teller would slip his index fingers and thumbs into the four slots, and, via a system of numbers, give another student the prediction written inside the paper (of which there were various choices). The Fortune Teller was created by folding the paper at right angles in a series of moves I cannot quite recall, but in the end it was a three-dimensional paper sculpture composed of triangles. This game from my youth is what I’m reminded of when I look at Yakuza Lou, a limited edition chandelier designed and constructed by artist Eddy Sykes.

And, while Yakuza Lou might look like it comes from some exotic location straight out of a storybook, it’s actually made in L.A., where former Detroit denizen Skyes now lives and works. Nothwithstanding Yakuza Lou’s point of physical origin, its mechanized aesthetic owes a debt to the Motor City. The kinetic chandelier, as its creator calls it, might take its movement from all the car manufacturing mojo flying about the Sykes’ hometown. After all, it opens and closes on a complex system of hinges: “Yakuza Lou is a meticulously hand-made light sculpture that gracefully transforms itself—dynamically illuminating as it changes shape” (see the movement on video). Yakuza Lou displays Sykes’ brilliant craftsmanship—the designer has fashioned every piece with its very own charm (note the complex abstract patterns on every triangle, like a Rorschach test

The chandelier comes in brass or black chrome, in various sizes and configurations. Every piece takes up to four months construction, but the limited-edition, signed and numbered Yakuza Lou is worth the wait, since “it creates an experience like no other chandelier before it.”