Some crystals turn pressure into electricity. Squeeze or bend a piezoelectric crystal and a small electrical charge appears across it. The effect also runs in reverse, which is why a quartz watch keeps time: a tiny quartz crystal, driven by current, vibrates at a steady frequency, and the watch counts the vibrations.
How we use it
Clear quartz has a special place in our installations. It refracts and organizes light, and it is one of the most ordered materials a person can hold. In the material vocabulary of Auric Structuringâ„¢, quartz stands for coherence and transmission.
Where it sits
Piezoelectricity is established physics. It needs pressure or an applied current to appear, so a quartz point resting on a table is not producing electricity. When we give quartz meaning in an installation, that meaning is declared symbolism.