Selfridges window installation by Kyle Bean

For a department store known for selling the newest in fashion, design and gadgets, Selfridges' latest window display is something of a surprise. Suspended from giant weighing scales in the 'Wonder room' is a dismantled Honda Fireblade motorcycle, complete with dangling wires.
Created by young designer, Kyle Bean, of multidisciplinary agency, Blinkart, the installation in the London store is balanced by a perfectly intact version of the same bike. One of a series of works in the windows by Bean, it's inspired by the scientific theory that 'matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed'.
Elsewhere, the designer - known for his extraordinarily detailed, handmade models for department stores, magazines and brands like Diet Coke - has transformed three fairytale books into an intricate sculpture of a castle. And in another window, there's a cardboard box suspended beside an office chair that has been immaculately sculpted from the same material.
Bean's window displays at Selfridges will be on show until 1st September. The designer and his team installed the motorcycle parts as a live art performance.
The installation was inspired by the scientific theory that 'matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed'
The dismantled motorcycle was installed in a live performance by Bean and his team
A cardboard box and its counterweight - a chair immaculately sculpted from the same material - by Kyle Bean
The cardboard chair by Kyle Bean
Bean has compacted 1000 aluminum cans into a small cube, which is presented beside another cube of cans in their original state
The cube of 1000 compressed cans
A cube of cans in their original state
Bean has used his trademark paper crafting skills to create an intricate sculpture of a castle from the pages of three counterweight fairy tale books.
The castle sculpture by Kyle Bean
A wedding cake is strung up beside a mobile of its components
The mobile of cake ingredients
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Malaika Byng is an editor, writer and consultant covering everything from architecture, design and ecology to art and craft. She was online editor for Wallpaper* magazine for three years and more recently editor of Crafts magazine, until she decided to go freelance in 2022. Based in London, she now writes for the Financial Times, Metropolis, Kinfolk and The Plant, among others.
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