Fashions come and go, and no matter how old-fashioned, nothing is destined to stay in a trunk forever.
Who was going to tell the American entrepreneur Louis Bernard Woeste that his patent for a glittering mirror ball designed in 1917, which he called
Myriad Reflector —
“a myriad of reflections”, in Spanish
—,
would light up the best parties of the decade of the the seventies.
Or even more unlikely, that this brilliant invention created for jazz nightclubs and skating rinks would generate, more than a century later, hundreds of millions of views on a virtual platform called TikTok.
Inseparable from the disco era and dance floors, since its invention in the midst of World War I it had only crossed the threshold of a nightclub on a few occasions.
Little beyond the famous photo of the model Twiggy with her silhouette in the form of earrings
,
as props for a wedding between lovers of
kitsch
or in the macro-installations of the artist duo Kyle McDonald and Jonas Jongejan.
Everything changed after the confinement due to the pandemic, when social networks emerged as a powerful tool to teach the whole world the style of each one in home decoration.
Thousands of users dedicated their free time at home to generating videos showing ideas and the so-called
DIY hacks
(Tricks to do things yourself, DIY tricks) to give visibility to creative skills that until now had remained in the background.
In this democratic journey through decoration, the disco balls aim very high.
The
hashtag #discoball alone
accumulates more than 431,000 posts on Instagram, but it is on TikTok where the rage for its mirror crystals skyrockets.
The video tour of just 12 seconds through the living room of user Thediscoloft, dotted with specks of light projected by various mirror balls, has accumulated 1.3 million views to date.
Or the simple gesture made by Valeria Jacobs
—
a veteran of
home decor
on this social network
—
when it comes to lighting her kitchen with this gadget is on its way to two million views.
Such is the viral influx that it is not surprising that Apple released a version in March of this year.
mirror ball emoji
that lit up Tony Manero in
Saturday Night Fever.
A globe of the world designed by Lina Shamoon from colored crystals.Lina Shamoon
But the disco phenomenon is not just a matter of viral numbers, but also economics.
With sales reaching four figures in original
mid-century
models on the platform for buying and selling designer objects Pamono, the average starting price of
vintage
balls from the seventies on Ebay does not usually fall below 400 euros .
Although its great reactivation in the market comes from newly created objects.
A few months ago,
The New York Times
reported in an article the fever unleashed by objects made of mirror glass on the online trading network Etsy.
The testimony of Libby Rasmussen (Washington, 31 years old) is an example of the good health enjoyed by the sector.
This director of
marketing
and social networks decided to dust off his fondness for disco balls during the hardest months of the pandemic, and show how he decorated some corners of his house on his Instagram account.
After her followers frequently asked where they could buy them, Rasmussen contacted a wholesaler and decided to put them up for sale herself through her own space, LivingColorfully.
“The first day I opened the Etsy shop I had 40 orders.
Then 400 and later several thousand.
It was really crazy how the sale skyrocketed….
All for being at the right time and place, ”she declared to the New York newspaper in April of this year.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Libby Rasmussen (@libbylivingcolorfully)
Rasmussen's case is not isolated.
Searches with the words
disco ball
have multiplied on Etsy since 2020, with a 400% increase since the beginning of the year.
Lina Shamoon's virtual store is also going through a good time.
The artist based in San Diego (USA) rose as a finalist for the Etsy Design Awards 2021 awarded by the online platform with her quarry of mirrors made by hand, from foam and reflective crystals.
An advanced interpretation of the classic disco ball that can take up to three weeks of work.
“The design arose from the need to create my own frames.
I decided to replace the conventional resin with foam, since it allows you to sculpt whatever you want on it.
At that time, for some reason, I only had mirror mosaics at home, and I decided to try them on my foam frames.
I loved the result, ”she explains by email to EL PAÍS.
Since that day, he confesses that he has not stopped using this material in mirrors and other items such as mannequin heads, giant letters and also spheres, such as a world globe designed from colored crystals.
For Shamoon, the sudden interest in this lighting material is a consequence of the uncertain times we have lived through: “I think that people, including myself, have been through so much pain lately that we only want to see things that make us happy.
Disco balls or mirrors that reflect light and shine brightly in a room help make anyone a little bit happier, which is our goal in life, or at least my products."
A mirror created by the artist Lina Shamoon, based in San Diego (USA) and finalist of the Etsy Design Awards 2021.Lina Shamoon
Its
kitsch
cadence has also seduced design with capital letters.
The collaboration between the American designer Kelly Wearstler and the Rotganzen art collective generated one of the most applauded collections of last fall.
The leading interior designer for
celebrities
such as Cameron Diaz or Gwen Stefani launched a series of decorative objects hand-sculpted in glass by the Dutch studio, inspired by the glamor of Los Angeles, on her website.
Its melted ball shape adheres to the edge of a table or a stereo, refreshing the environment with the blanket of light it projects.
With prices that are not exactly affordable (from 2,500 dollars, 2,394 euros), it has not been an obstacle for one of the models,
Tiny Dancer
, to sell out in a few weeks.
Disco Chair,
by Californian Rachel Shillander, also seeks to rock our home in a sweet reverie.
The founder of the Lland architecture and art studio signs this seat created with a lightweight concrete shell and a cover of 3,000 mirrors that she places one by one.
When placed in direct sunlight, she explains on her website, whether inside or outside the house, she says it generates the effect of a "daylight disco" that changes as the day, season and weather conditions.
“Since no two days are exactly the same, every moment is a new light show that is constantly changing,” she explains.
Those interested in acquiring one of his armchairs will have to arm themselves with patience and have a large budget: each piece takes between 16 and 18 weeks to manufacture and is available from 30.
But, like everything that happens in decoration, this trend includes options for all budgets.
From the classic disco ball offered by Amazon (20.99 euros) to the
Saturn
version of the aforementioned Lina Shamoon (on sale on Etsy for 168.20 euros), letters to decorate a desk or a headboard (44.34 euros) or in the form of a pot, another best seller of this online commerce community within easy reach (from 18 euros).
Not forgetting the growing demand for "magic mushrooms" in the home.
This is the case of Disco Fugi, hand-made by the French collective LaBellePlanteshop from a polystyrene structure covered with mini-mirror tiles (35 euros).
A room at The Dive Motel, in Nashville (USA).
The decorative possibilities they offer are not limited to a single setting.
On the fashion and lifestyle platform Refinery29 they reveal simple and elegant ways to incorporate a disco ball into any apartment.
Placing it under a skylight or above a window will allow the object to attract more sunlight and thus enjoy its sinuous halo throughout the room for as long as possible.
Adding a macramé structure allows, on the other hand, that it can be hung in more places, such as a column or on top of a shelf with an added handcrafted touch.
If, on the contrary, we do not want to suspend it, or the ceilings of the house are very high, the creators of the decoration diary and DIY
A Beautiful Mess
, Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman, suggest leaving it on the floor or in an unexpected corner, such as a fireplace or a coffee table.
"They will make a boring room look fun, that's part of their success," they explain via Instagram.
A crucial point is to determine the stay.
A room with social activity is not the same as a bedroom where you go to rest.
In the second case, it will be used more often at night, so we will have to incorporate a point of artificial light, as in the colorful proposal of The Dive Motel, in Nashville (USA).
But most important of all: take some time to sit back and watch your lightmap change.
Disco music is optional.
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