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Megan Geckler for Bobble

Today’s Deconstruction, “Megan Geckler for Bobble,” may be the most colorful one ever. Created by artist Megan Geckler, the subject is a unique art installation created and featured at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago this past March. The piece was commissioned by water bottle company Bobble to commemorate its second year.

Starting with a matte black metal cube (10’x10′ and 8′ tall, Geckler transformed it into a woven rainbow structure using one-inch-wide strips of flagging tape, a mass-produced colorful plastic ribbon that’s most commonly used on construction sites. The tape is from Presco, which has been supplying Geckler with material since September 2011.

The computer-rendered diagram of the strand design.

The tape boxes. The tape comes in rolls, as you can see. We used Bobble’s signature color scheme — magenta, red, yellow, green, and cyan.

Using the working diagram, we laid each strand of flagging tape down, one at a time, securing to the cube with double-stick tape. We started from the center and worked our way out. Yes, we are cavalier when using ladders, preferring to straddle them.

We’re halfway done, with all the strands that go in one direction completed.

Here we are beginning to weave the tape in the other direction. Each strand is hand-woven, one at a time.

I’m standing on a plank held by two ladders, beginning to weave.

A close up of me weaving on my plank setup with my professional hand-holder to keep me from losing my balance. (We were not permitted to use our usual scaffolding setup because of Union/Trade Show rules.)

Almost done!

It’s necessary to secure the tape to the bottom of the cube.

I’m still securing it, but making progress.

Just finished!

All set up, chairs, table, and Bobbles.

Geckler’s team takes thousands of photographs during the installation process. Watch the time-lapse video here:

Photos ©2012 Megan Geckler, all rights reserved. Video music by Greg Eklund, editing by Chris Jones © 2012.

Marni Elyse Katz is a Contributing Editor at Design Milk. She lives in Boston where she contributes regularly to local publications and writes her own interior design blog, StyleCarrot.