Wooden Kinetic Hummingbird Sculpture

A balancing sculpture is a piece of physics you can keep on a desk. The hummingbird's beak rests on a single point and the whole 400g body pivots around it, held in place because the counterweight in the tail sits below the point of contact. Nudge it and it rocks and rotates for a surprisingly long time before settling, and it settles back to exactly the same attitude every time. Children find it fascinating and so, it turns out, do most adults in a meeting.

It is cut and assembled from wood, with the grain running through the wing and tail shapes so each piece carries slightly different markings. The bird measures 30cm from beak to tail, 23cm across the wings and 5cm deep, which is large enough to read clearly from across a room and small enough to sit on a bookshelf, a mantelpiece, a windowsill or a desk without dominating it. The silhouette is clean and stylised rather than fussily realistic.

Set it up on a level, stable surface away from draughts and passing traffic, since the whole point of a balance sculpture is that it responds to very small forces. It needs no batteries, no winding and no maintenance beyond occasional dusting with a soft cloth. Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from radiators so the timber does not dry out and warp, and lift it by the body rather than the wings.

• Material: wood, handmade
• Dimensions: 30 x 23 x 5cm
• Weight: approximately 400g
• Kinetic balancing design, pivots on a single point
• No batteries or power required
• Keep on a level surface away from draughts and direct heat