Switch

Switch is built around a simple visual uncertainty. Positive and negative space keep exchanging roles, so neither quite settles into the background. The eye makes one decision, changes its mind, then finds another route through the design.

That instability gives Switch its character. Formal geometry usually brings order, yet here the shapes seem to compete for territory. They sit closely together, jostling for space and occasionally appearing to interrupt one another. There is structure underneath, but it has been deliberately unsettled.

The idea owes something to figure-ground experiments in graphic design. A shape only exists because of the space around it. Reverse that relationship and the same composition can suddenly read differently. Black and white make the effect particularly immediate, although colour can make the distinction less certain.

There is also something appealing about introducing this ambiguity into mosaic. The material begins with an absolute grid. Every tessera has its allotted position, yet the image formed across that grid can be much less obedient. Switch uses that contradiction rather than trying to disguise it.

From one moment to the next, blocks become gaps and gaps become blocks. Lines appear to continue before another form cuts across them. The composition never quite allows the eye to become comfortable with a single reading.

Switch belongs to the geometric family, but order is only half the story. Its real energy comes from allowing a little chaos into the system, then watching the two negotiate for space.

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