Inspiration:

"Mozart 1" by Kenneth Snelson

Specifically, I was inspired by the idea of suspended objects, tension, and materials being used in unexpected ways.

My brainstorm was to build a clock held in place by a ring of curved wood.  It is a somewhat abnormal use of wood to make a cylinder.

The idea was to cut lines in the wooden to allow it to arc.  I found some design examples of how to do this.  Unfortunately a long enough strip did not fit on the laser cutter bed:

Building a cardboard prototype gave me a better sense of scale.  I reduced the depth and changed the joints joining the rounded sections.

My new joint was a bit complicated so I ran a test first...

With my joints working I began constructing the outer ring from two strips 

And then used my ring frames to stabilize the joints on my curving strips

Glued the last joint completing the ring

Finally, to center the clock in the ring I used a single piece of fishing line threaded through all of the holes.  The tension prevents the ring from travelling too far from the center.  Though some slack will allow it to sag a little bit.

So that from a distance, the centerpiece appears to float in midair.