Minutes in Blue by Raphaé Memon

‘Minutes in Blue’ is an exhibition of six hand-crafted window installations which explore the concepts of temporality, wonder, light, storytelling, and transformation. Each display case serves as a framed theatre stage, the layered formal shapes correlating to our cyclical life and our connection to movement, space, and the earth. The exhibition is as much about the journey of an idea as it is about its realisation and transformation.

Cobalt blue forms a unifying thread throughout the compositions. This powerful colour, with its deep history in art and architecture, resonates on an emotional level, evoking the ethereal beauty of the blue hour – a fleeting period of twilight that lasts only minutes – and echoing the temporal nature of the wonder that is created in our human experience each day.

Drawing inspiration from the nearby whimsical Pied Bull Yard clock and the original timber cuckoo clocks of Germany’s Black Forest, the exhibition also pays homage to the folklore immortalised by the Brothers Grimm. Classic fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and Rapunzel encapsulate moments of discovery in untamed, unfamiliar, and uncharted places; they capture minutes of transformation and magic, much like the fleeting blue hour. Each window box represents a distinct story, inviting viewers to identify their narratives and reflect on their own encounters with these timeless tales.

About the Artist

Raphaé studied Architecture at the Bartlett and the Manchester School of Architecture before moving into private practice in London. In the years since, he has carved out a specialism as an interdisciplinary designer who perceives new creative opportunities in the intersections between Architecture and Scenography. In simple terms, each of his projects explores the creation of scenic space, from the scale of a theatre stage to a public square. More profoundly, they consider the development of architectural space through the lens of the scenographer, and vice versa.

As a designer, Raphaé has created artwork for productions at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, worked for the London Design Festival at the V&A, assisted in the design of opera productions with winners of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, and worked on exhibition installation, studio archiving and design research with artist Es Devlin. His extensive theatre experience incorporates set and costume design, prop-making, scenic painting, costume supervision, and stage management.