Aqua Labs Presents: Gliding Carve

A new collection of light sculptures by Gil Shmerlin.
Aqua Creations introduces GLIDING CARVE, a new collection developed through Aqua Labs, our platform dedicated to supporting emerging designers through collaboration and technical development.

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Gliding Carve is a series of floor and suspended lighting pieces crafted entirely in metal. Each work is shaped by hand, producing a continuous rippled surface that runs along its full length. The carved surface is not patterned or segmented, but formed through human gesture, creating a sense of flow that is revealed through illumination. As reflections move across the metal, the piece recalls the quiet rhythm of a wind chime, the steady descent of water, or the contained strength of a vertical trunk. 

Each piece is unique. Subtle variations in the hand-shaped surface ensure that no two works respond to light in exactly the same way. This emphasis on material behavior and surface interaction distinguishes Gliding Carve from Aqua Creations’ textile-based collections, while remaining grounded in our shared focus on research, precision, and performance.

The collection, originating from Gil Shmerlin’s research and artistic exploration, was developed in close collaboration with Aqua Creations’ technical teams. It integrates an engineered LED system within a slender structure that can be suspended or freestanding, allowing it to adapt to architectural, residential, and installation contexts.

ABOUT AQUA LABS*
Aqua Labs is Aqua Creations’ collaborative platform dedicated to emerging designers whose work demonstrates a strong material sensibility and a rigorous approach to light. Through shared expertise and production support, Aqua Labs enables experimental ideas to evolve into resolved lighting objects.

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ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Gil Shmerlin’s practice centers on material transformation and surface articulation. Working through direct, hands-on processes, he explores how subtle changes in texture and finish shape the way light is perceived over time. He is the founder of Shmerlin Studio and holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and Cooper Union in New York.