Some objects demand that you stop and look. The ML15 Helios, Frank Buchwald‘s new creation for the M.A.D. Gallery’s 15th anniversary, is exactly that kind of object. Limited to just 15 handcrafted pieces and exclusive to the gallery, it sits at the intersection of machine, sculpture, and light, raising a question that every MB&F enthusiast will recognise: where does pragmacy end and mechanical art begin?
A Gallery Built on Stubbornness
In October 2011, MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser opened the first M.A.D. Gallery, short for Mechanical Art Devices, on Geneva’s Rue Verdaine, and he did so out of necessity. Conventional retailers struggled to contextualise his kinetic Horological Machines, and even traditional art galleries turned him away with the same verdict: “But these aren’t art, they’re watches!” Rather than accept that, Büsser built his own space from scratch, with no retail experience and, famously, no credit card machine for the first week of trading.​
The concept grew fast. Beyond showcasing MB&F’s machines, the gallery evolved into a platform for collaborations with Reuge and L’Epée 1839, and a genuine community gathering point. Today, the network stretches from Geneva and Dubai to MB&F Labs in Taipei, Singapore, Paris, Beverly Hills, and Menlo Park. Fifteen years in, the gallery celebrates with a series of special limited editions, and Frank Buchwald leads the festivities.​
Frank Buchwald: The Machine Whisperer
Born in Hanover in 1956, Buchwald studied design at the University of Arts in Berlin before spending years as a science-fiction illustrator for the film industry. When that industry shifted to digital tools in the early 1990s, commissions dried up and he gravitated towards metalwork, teaching himself machining in a friend’s workshop. His Berlin studio occupies an old industrial building whose brick façade still carries the scars of Second World War bullets. Inside, sketches cover the walls, and workbenches carry lathes, welders, and hand tools.​
Büsser discovered Buchwald’s Machine Lights online, visited the Berlin studio, and immediately committed to buying the next 10 lights for the gallery in progress. That handshake grew into a 15-year creative friendship. “Max Büsser and the MB&F team genuinely understand independent creation,” Buchwald says. “They give artists freedom, trust intuition, and value authenticity over trends.”​​
ML15 Helios: The Technical Heart
The ML15 Helios takes its name from the Greek god of the sun, and Buchwald structures the entire piece around that central idea: something powerful, self-contained, and precise. A three-legged base anchors the construction, lending it the same biomechanical quality that runs through all of Buchwald’s work. The centrepiece is a 120mm spherical globe bulb, surrounded by a dimmable LED ring that replicates a solar corona. Two blue diffuser rings frame the sphere, shifting its visual register between a human eye, a celestial body, and a precision measuring instrument, all at once.​
The specifications ground the artistry in hard data. The ML15 Helios measures 350mm wide by 440mm tall and 460mm deep, weighing 9kg. Stainless steel forms the primary structure, with brass elements throughout. All electrical wiring runs through flexible stainless steel tubes, a signature Buchwald detail that keeps the inner workings visible and honest. A silver textile cable handles the connection, a blue illuminated switch controls the light, and the head section rotates 45 degrees in each direction for a full 90-degree arc of adjustment. In total, the piece comprises 120 individual components. Even the laser-cut parts receive extensive manual reworking, and proportional fine-tuning continues well into the production phase, with each piece taking several weeks to complete.​
Fifteen Pieces, One Statement
The ML15 Helios is a M.A.D. Gallery exclusivity, and pricing is available directly through gallery locations in Geneva, Dubai, and the MB&F Labs network. Based on comparable Buchwald pieces at the gallery, such as the Nixie Machine III at CHF 32,000 and the Machine Light XL1 at CHF 27,000, expect the ML15 Helios to sit at a similar level of investment for a far rarer edition. I find it entirely fitting that the gallery’s 15th anniversary begins with Buchwald. He was there at the opening, his Machine Lights among the very first works displayed in Geneva, and the ML15 Helios honours that founding bond with the kind of seriousness and craft it deserves.
