Passages is an exhibition project featuring a series of sculptural objects inspired by the action of heat on matter. Heat becomes a design element in itself, acting upon surfaces treated with thermochromic ink. Under its effect, the ink reveals the material beneath in an ever-changing fluctuation of gradients and shades: traces of the passage from one state to another.

Developed for the IQOS Pathfinder Project, the project investigates heat as both a dynamic force and a material presence. We created a series of objects pervaded by this ubiquitous force, each treated with thermochromic ink that, once heated, allows the surface beneath to emerge. The resulting gradients and shades become visible signs of transformation, animating the objects through a constant state of transition.

Each object expresses a different manifestation of heat. Observing nature, we researched how heat materialises: through sun rays cast in the early hours, mist rising from water, or ice melting on a mountain peak. Each of these phenomena, each of these Passages, is visualised through a gradient — a visual metaphor for transition — and represented through a series of photographs by artist Jagoda Wisniewska.