A Factum Arte team, led by Damián López, Jacinto de Manuel and Juan Manuel Martinez built the Murano glass sculpture designed by Shirazeh Houshiary, Chrysalis. The artist selected and designed custom-built Murano glass bricks especially for this work.

Chrysalis is composed of 30 rows of 32 glass bricks. Each row is secured in place with a stainless steel ring that was routed at Factum Arte in gradually changing shapes, thereby creating the movement of the sculpture. The structure is built on top of a stainless steel base.

The sculpture was constructed by creating five groups of four rows of brick each and two groups of five rows. These sections were mounted on top of each other, building up progressively the height of the sculpture. The stability of this work depends on the precise positioning and alignment of each row of bricks.

In this glass brick sculpture, Houshiary explores the notion of transparency and the possibility of transcending three-dimensional space. Colored bricks play an essential role in supporting the structure of the work but also function as a sign of absence or void.

Chrysalis´s form, created through the careful rotation of each layer at precise angles, produces a spiralling effect appearing to stretch and pull into infinite space. This interplay between form and formlessness is an essential theme in Houshiary’s work.