There's a patch of grass named for Harry Bertoia in the centre of the sprawling Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens complex in San Marino, California. It was there that I first encountered the Italian-American designer and artist's sounding sculptures—in this case, a set of 19-foot high beryllium rods topped with thick copper caps.

The appearance was striking, geometric but natural, swaying in the wind like pond reeds. What was even more remarkable was the sound it made. As those caps and rods collided, the sculpture produced an immense roar, somewhere between the rush of a river and a gust of wind. The sculpture looked both futuristic and archaic, like a relic from a civilization that could have existed thousands of years in the future or the past.