When technology illuminates nostalgia, the result is a kind of escapism that is as arresting as it is liberating. Welcome to Crystal Beat II. This latest dynamic lighting installation by Preciosa in the heart of Milan is our digital take on retro fiction.

WHAT: Crystal Beat II
HOW: An interactive tale of light, music and memories told on a digital canvas of 400 crystal cubes
WHERE: Qattrocento in Opificio 31, Zona Tortona, Milan
WHEN: 15.-21. April, 2024,
April 15 from 9:00 AM - 7:30 PM
April 16 - 20 from 9:00 AM - 7:30 PM
April 21 from 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM


Preciosa Lighting has a proud history of crafting unseen and un-experienced installations that may be born out of our mastery of crystal illumination, but ultimately evoke deeply human emotions of curiosity, quest and connection. In the years gone by, Breath of Light (2018), Carousel of Light (2019) and Composition in Crystal (2022) have been some of our applauded efforts.

Not surprising then, that for Milan Design Week 2024 Preciosa will transform Zona Tortona into a dazzling time machine. Crystal Beat II will be an avant-garde installation that follows in the footsteps of its wildly memorable predecessor from the previous year.

“Crystal Beat II is a response to the shift in the culture around us. We are all at once looking to the future and reaching back to the past for nostalgia, comfort and experience to recoup popular retro trends. Through a dazzling display of light and music, every suspended Crystal Pixel invites you to take a graphic journey back in time, while absorbing the sensory delights of the present.”

Michael Vasku
Co-Creative Director, Preciosa Lighting

The result will be our own unique homage to the early aesthetic of digital art and graphic play set to the tempo of retro gaming. 400 interactive crystal cubes will form the grammar of this sensorial experience. They will be suspended in space, to create a 'pixellated' canvas where users can interact and respond with each pixel to create dreamy landscapes of vibrating lights.

Every side of every pixel could be individually programmed to display a different colour, thanks to proprietary LED technology created in-house. Visitors can weave their own retro narratives by programming these cubes from a separate screen, turning them into theatrical puppeteers of RGBW light and 3D sound.

Work of art? Or art of technology? While the Crystal Beats II will be an unabashed expression of our love for innovation, it will equally be a proud testament of our heritage. Traditional Bohemian glass makers are at the forefront of this installation as each of the 400 cubes has been carved from the finest bohemian crystal in triplex opal. So both our inspiration and the outcome share this imaginative cusp of history and future.