“Nest” – light installation

This spring, real estate developer Merko rounded up versatile designers to help breathe new life into an old, rusted mast standing by Kalaranna street in the Noblnessner Port area, Tallinn. The mast is adorned with a light installation called “Nest”, that captivates passersby at various levels with its soft form and beautiful illumination.

The artwork is crafted from repurposed materials, giving new meaning to the long-unused structure. The piece is designed to enliven urban space and inspire the appreciation of old and disused industrial objects elsewhere.

Meet Stina. She has great ideas.

The starting point for this project was a three-egg bird’s nest drawn by Stina Onemar, a five-year-old designer from the Velvet design agency.

Velvet collaborated with the Estonian lighting design studio UN-LIKE to bring this vision to life.
The shape of the artwork weaves the motif of the nest into a whole – building homes and bringing life into them.

Nature is near

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) predominantly nests near humans, constructing its nests on rooftops, chimneys, or utility poles. Each year, the stork couple reinforces their home and uses the same nesting site for several years. Inspired by this principle of nest reuse, Velvet incorporated leftover construction materials into the light installation.

A home is created by a community

The creation of “Nest” was a collaborative effort.

• Lighting design studio UN-LIKE designed, crafted, and illuminated weather-resistant eggs, which were then carefully placed within the nest structure.
• Velvet rummaged Merko’s construction leftovers to find suitable materials that would allow for a soft form and reflect the installed lighting.

Leftover metal strips from roof construction provided the flexibility needed for bending, weaving, and cutting to the right lengths, seamlessly intertwining around the steel frame supporting the eggs.

The design of “Nest” incorporates the natural ageing process caused by weather. The metal materials are painted to match the rusted mast, but over time, their wear and patina increasingly blend the “Nest” into the mast even more. Just like stork nests gradually become intertwined with human-made objects, this installation weaves itself into the urban fabric.

Treat yourself to a walk and go take a look!