"Behind the Concept: The Balance of the Snail’s Time"
When I began designing my Equi desk clocks, I found inspiration in observing snails.
This simple act sparked a metaphor for time and balance that guided the entire process.
If we think about it, snails are slow and carry a large shell on their backs. They seem to be late wherever they go, but in reality, their time is in perfect equilibrium. They are neither in a hurry nor delayed—they simply advance at their own pace.
Perhaps the snail reminds us that the balance of time does not depend on speed, but on finding our own rhythm.
As is often the case in my design practice, I was not interested in reproducing a snail literally, but rather in preserving the qualities that make it recognizable.
Looking at its anatomy, we find a soft body and a spiral shell that acts as an exoskeleton, whose structural lines define much of its visual identity.
For this project, I decided to simplify those characteristics through geometry. The spiral shell became a circle with a concentric circle in low relief, rather than a direct translation of the spiral itself.
In the same way, the shape of the body was reduced to a geometric synthesis.
Made from pigmented concrete, a hard material generally associated with construction, the clock introduces an additional transformation.
The soft body of the snail disappears, and the entire object takes on the same material condition: a solid and rigid piece, from body to shell.
The clock can also rest in two different positions. When pushed, it does not fall over; its body naturally finds a point of balance again. In a way, this feature brings back the idea that inspired the project from the very beginning.
Just as the snail appears to move slowly while maintaining a perfect balance between its body and shell, the clock preserves that same quality in its physical behavior.
I wanted this idea of balance to be present not only in the concept, but also in the way the object behaves.
I have always been interested in observing what nature can teach us and translating those lessons into the design of everyday objects. It is not about copying natural forms, but about understanding their principles and reinterpreting them through new materials, geometries, and functions.