Strips of colourful photovoltaic cells are arranged into a geometric pattern to form this artwork, conceived by Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel to bring solar panels from our roofs into our homes.
Named Ra after the ancient Egyptian sun god, the see-through solar tapestry is less than one millimetre thick and was designed to be hung in a window, so that it can cast vivid shadows on the surrounding walls as the light changes throughout the day.
The Ra tapestry (above) is made from transparent photovoltaic cells (top image)
When the sun goes down, a ring of electroluminescent paper embedded in the window hanging starts to glow, powered by the energy that was captured by the photovoltaic (PV) cells throughout the day.
Unlike a traditional solar lamp, such as the Sunne light that van Aubel unveiled last year, Ra's purpose is not strictly to provide illumination. It was designed to be hung in front of windows
Instead, it was designed to show how the latest generation of clear, pliable PVs can have artistic and decorative applications, rather than just functional ones.
"A coloured, transparent surface that is flexible ? this gives you a lot of design possibilities," van Aubel told Dezeen. "It becomes a material in itself that you can work with like glass or clay."
"I think it is nice to show that solar energy can become a form of art," she added. "It becomes something desirable, something that we would like to be surrounded by instead of hiding...