The vortex, written in light.

This disc carries one of our oldest designs - the golden-ratio vortex, hundreds of cells arranged in two sets of spirals that turn in opposite directions and flow in to a single centre - engraved into mirror-polished stainless steel as a hologram. Tilt it and colour sweeps around the spiral: red, orange, green, blue and violet, chasing each other in to the centre as the angle changes.

What makes a hologram special
A normal image stores one picture, point by point. A hologram stores light itself: its surface is covered with microscopic structures that bend light, and the information is spread across the whole surface instead of sitting in one place. That is why a hologram can hold far more than a flat picture, can show different views from different angles - and why even a broken piece of a hologram still shows the whole image.

Why it speaks to people in esoteric terms
"Every part contains the whole" is one of the oldest ideas in esoteric thought. It is in the Hermetic "as above, so below", in the microcosm that mirrors the macrocosm, in Indra's net where every jewel reflects all the others, and in the modern image of a holographic universe. The hologram is the physical form of that idea. The vortex already expresses that idea - a pattern that grows outward from one centre in the same proportions found throughout nature. Written in holographic form, it becomes a surface that carries the whole in every part.

How we make it
Every cell of the vortex is engraved with microscopic parallel lines at its own angle. These lines act as tiny diffraction gratings, splitting white light into its spectrum; because the cells turn with the spiral, each angle you look from lights up a different band of colour around the vortex. Every disc is laser engraved in our workshop.

Light it well
The holographic effect needs strong, direct light: it is at its most vivid in direct sunlight or under a strong lamp - a spotlight, a desk lamp or even a phone torch. In soft, diffuse light the disc looks mostly silver, with the spiral pattern clearly visible.

Details
- Mirror-polished stainless steel, 35 mm diameter, 1 mm thick
- Golden-ratio vortex pattern, engraved as a hologram

Designed and made in the Aplicum workshop.