Horm Stories #13
Today, we want to introduce you to a remarkable figure—a man and an artist of extraordinary significance—whom we at Horm had the pleasure and honor of meeting personally a few years ago. We are talking about Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923–2019), a pioneer of kinetic art (also called optical art), an artistic movement that emerged between the 1960s and 1970s. This movement focused on exploring and experimenting with visual perception and movement, aiming to evoke the sensation of motion in the observer’s perception.
Master Cruz-Diez conducted extensive research on the concept of “color in constant transformation.” By applying the laws of optics and superimposing multiple planes of color, he created new colored surfaces not through traditional painting, but through patterns of closely spaced elements, eliciting entirely new sensory experiences.
This research led him to work exclusively with light and to design compositions composed only of vertical lines, which he called “chromatic event modules.” Through his work, Cruz-Diez demonstrated that color is not a fixed material substance, but an event continuously reconfigured through interaction with the viewer’s eye.
His works are included in the permanent collections of the world’s most prestigious museums and galleries, and his art has been applied to architecture, urban planning, and interior design.
A few years ago, studying Cruz-Diez’s work inspired Renato Zamberlan, designer and Product Advisor at Horm, to create the Carlos sideboard. This piece places the observer at the center of a kinetic experiment: the viewer is no longer a passive observer but an active participant, experiencing color changes as their perspective shifts, much like the effect of a curtain opening and closing.
In this way, Renato Zamberlan created a true “Optical Work”, which Master Cruz-Diez endorsed personally by inviting Horm and Zamberlan to his atelier in Paris.
We have documented this extraordinary encounter in a video that continues to inspire and move us to this day.
Enjoy watching, and see you soon!
