In 2004 LEGO “decided to remove almost half the pieces from the LEGO catalogue, forcing designers to return to a simple approach to product innovation. The designers were also given clear instructions to reduce the confusion that had been created by the demand for originality in the 1990s. We had to revive the spirit of ‘simplicity and the pleasure of building things and creativity’, recalls [product design manager] Jorgensen”.

Using salt as a medium, Yamamoto has meticulously sculpted an exquisite salt installation. It is one of many installations from the ‘Labyrinth Series’. Many of Yamamoto’s works resemble labyrinths or medical imagery of the brain.

‘Detritus’, is a salt installation “where a custom-built, room-sized 3-D printer crafts a miniature world in decay. Set in a reclaimed boiler room turned gallery space, the robot is suspended from the 40-foot ceilings and deposits a specially formulated saline paste onto a 12 ton desert of salt, and is programmed to build a desolate landscape filled with ruined buildings, trashed tires, and discarded objects.”

“David DiMichele’s ‘Salt and Asphalt’ is part of “a series of large-scale photographs depicting grandiose installations in fantasy exhibition spaces. DiMichele creates this work by first building scale models of exhibition spaces, and producing original artworks in drawing, painting and sculpture mediums, which are sited in the spaces and then photographed to create the final works.”

Jim Denevan and team created a nine square mile ‘ice drawing’ described as a “brilliant pattern . . . Russian pilots who initially refused to do a second pass of the project gave in after seeing how beautiful it was.” The project is a remarkable achievement in teamwork logistics and geometric precision in a remote and bitterly cold location.

The warmer months of Berlin provided appropriate temperatures for the ‘melting men’ installation. The impressive abundance of carved ice figures made their statement slowly melting and ceasing to exist. Nele Acevedo has re-created the installation internationally in the promotion of global concern for polar regions.

‘Ice Spiral’ is an expression of Andy Goldsworthy’s ability to expose nature’s beauty in sensational form. In Scotland’s frosty winters, Goldsworthy dons fingerless gloves to create the icy fragile beauty of ‘land art’ sculptures on an intimate scale.