Inhale a thought, exhale an idea: Unalome by Saint-Gobain is a mind map materialised in glass

Who doesn’t miss the carefree and curious nature of childhood? A time when thoughts raced around in one’s mind in a frenzy to reach the finish line first, a thought inhaled and an idea exhaled. Saint-Gobain muses with this idea of childlike wonder, a need to explore and a deep desire for freedom. And as they inhale this thought, they exhale the idea of ‘Unalome’. Named after the yogic breathing practice — Anulom vilom, Unalome describes the journey of an idea, how it comes in as a thought and with some shaping, turns into an idea.

At its core, Unalome is a child’s room or play area. Imagined as a glass box of coloured grids using Saint-Gobain’s back-painted glasses, this coloured Rubix grid wraps around the walls, ceiling and floor. The vast use of colour is like the mind itself, scattered yet vivid. Saint-Gobain’s Colormaxx range is available in all RAL shades, making it the perfect choice for this concept.

This space resembles the initial stages of a thought, where the thinker’s mind is plastered with coloured Post-it notes. The flexibility of glass surfaces allows one to scribble their thoughts onto these grids, making the interior spaces more interactive. 

The outer side of the coloured glass cube is wrapped with frosted glass, which when lit, illustrates the contrast of clarity in thoughts from the initial randomness.

This whole unit is enclosed within a green-tinted glass cube of colours inspired by nature, serving as a space for reflection. The final cube of Saint-Gobain’s clear glass symbolises the phase of a thinker who finally becomes a spectator of how their thoughts engage with the external environment. The floor of this entire interior space is lined with mirrors reflecting the sky, as a gentle reminder to the user that the sky is the limit.

What is fascinating about using glass here is that it can be shaped to represent different ideas and diverse applications — as a partition, as a writing board, as seating, as a shutter, as flooring and as a ceiling. It creates a sense of space and transparency, even though Colormaxx is opaque.

Human thoughts are not one-dimensional. The journey that Unalome represents doesn’t necessarily flow from the core of the cube to the outer clear glass cube but perhaps can be a playful hopscotch of jumping from one space to another. The flexibility in the space is what allows free thinkers to be and nurtures their thoughts to break free from the confines.

Now read: Farah Agarwal imagines a whirlwind of colours and geometric shapes with Saint-Gobain glass