Dream/Design/Create

Great Mushrooming

2010-09-28T21:44:00.007+01:00

I'm unsure as to the name of the designer of these fantastic little creations, but as I gather the collection is called the Great Mushrooming.

As a fan of lighting design and judging from my previous blog entries I like a bit of enchantment, and no other word best describes these delicate works of art.

Constructed from glass and reclaimed wood, these highly crafted masterpieces conceal a simple LED delivering massive effect. I rarely like using the word cute to describe products, but the miniature woodland castoffs are just that.

However, there are some practical problems as to how much light they would actually deliver, and being such delicate objects I imagine they would be a pain to keep save during shipping, or indeed in a clumsy household.

I personally think they are a little novelty, perfectly created and adored, however the very obvious on/off switch makes me cringe slightly due to its obvious impact.

I understand the necessity of having an on/off switch but I'm puzzled as to why it has to look like that. The abnormality has been described as a mechanical delight by some people adding that it keeps the light grounded and provides a nice contrast, but I struggle to look past the switch when presented with such a blatant picture.

Negative aspects aside (of which I seem to have concentrated on), this pretty little light collection is one that will be marveled over for years to come. Inviting and endearing it fully deserves the attention it will and is receiving.

Also note the somewhat abstract names.

Aqua Creations - Apaya - Bubbles

2010-03-19T18:06:00.010Z

When I visited New York in September 2009 I stumbled across a company called Aqua Creations after blagging my way into the New York Design Centre. I wasn't really expecting to see anything contemporary enough to catch my interest, but I was wrong.

In the lobby of the NYDC were a couple of floor lights encapsulated in the wall with a glass window that I was instantly drawn to. They were made out of wool and looked so organic and wondrous, they're the kind of product you just won't feel complete about seeing until you've touched it and experienced it with more than one sense. After getting the taste of this company I had to track them down within the building, and I think, on the seventh floor, there they were, in all their draping glory the Apaya Lights.

I never got to touch the lights in the end through fear of being chucked out the place. I love the lights because they look like weird Jellyfish. They look as if they belong in the sea, although, I suppose if they became wet they wouldn't look so pretty. I like how they all embody a personality with each shaggy coat and colour and form. Its interesting how some lights like very feminine and others look quite masculine even though the only real difference between them is the way the material has been manipulated.

Also, while I was in their showroom I noticed a chair that wasn't too dissimilar from a chair I made during my Art Foundation year, Bubbles.

The only difference between the chair I made and Bubbles, is that Bubbles is made from lycra and mine was made from old clothes stuffed with shopping bags. I'm still surprised at how similar they are, and maybe it was something I should have continued with. Unfortunately I can't find a picture of my chair to compare, but my memory serves me well.

Aqua Creations is well worth a visit if you're interested in organic forms and experimentations with material and fabric. There is another great range of lighting on their website even more nautical than the products above, baring great resemblance to sea shells and turtle shells.

Sharon Marston - Flight Light

2010-03-09T18:33:00.009Z

Last summer I did a 5 week work placement with lighting designer Sharon Marston. Herself and her design term spend hours each day preparing huge scale chandeliers for shipping around the world for spectacular interior spaces. I enjoyed my 5 week placement with her and her team so much that I asked if I could stay for the whole summer, which she gladly accepted, much to my gratitude. Fair enough, I didn't see much sun being inside for the whole summer but I gained a great deal of experience working as part of a team in a highly successful company.

The chandeliers are far from the traditional sort you would imagine, but just as engaging and magnificent. Marston's designs are elegant, enchanting and completely overwhelming.

On my first day I was taken into the showroom and I couldn't believe how beautiful each light looked. There was a collection of at least 15 chandeliers in one room, each one a different form, with different materials, sparkling in the light. The lights were then all turned on with the blinds down, I felt like I was in Aladdin's Cave. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. The first time I saw her work on her website I was completely blown away, but to actually see it all was a privilege, and I feel extremely lucky for being able to see such beauty.

In my time there I helped build many chandeliers, and found myself becoming very excited each time I heard of a new project to start work on, each one larger and more extravagant than the one before. The final chandelier I worked on was to be sent to a casino in Singapore, and when installed will officially be the biggest chandelier in the world. It feels so amazing to be part of that as I spent many many hours hand crafting the main part of the chandelier.

I also helped create a new design for Sharon Marston which was unveiled at 100% Design at Earls Court, London. I had finished my placement a week before 100% Design. I can't describe how proud I felt when I saw a light that I helped craft being admired by other designers and critics.

My favourite of the whole collection is the Flight Light.

I think I remember being told that the Flight Light is the most popular of the collection. Its so versatile in form and colour which enables it to mould to any interior design specification. I always found it really enjoyable to make and admire. I just think it has a lot of character and charm and not to mention a certain amount of glamour. Its a subtle masterpiece of design cleverly taking the centre stage in an environment without being so brash and intimidating. It catches your eye and draws you in, dazzling you with its detail and sparkle.

To be honest, I found it hard picking a favourite out of the collection. Each light has a different feel and quality making them all so attractive and appealing in their own right.

Please visit www.sharonmarston.com and check out the collection for yourself, and if you ever get the chance to see them, please do, you won't regret it. You may even encounter a commissioned piece in your lifetime.

Tom Price - Meltdown Chairs

2010-02-12T21:11:00.008Z

Whilst researching my current project I stumbled across Tom Price's work and was instantly blown away by his processes and experimentation.

In my foundation year I spent a lot of time playing with materials and I have always seen it as one of my huge strengths as a designer. To experiment with a material and learn something new is exhilarating, it gives me a greater understanding of a material and more freedom to work with it, providing it with the sensitivity that it deserves. That is what I love most about design, the chance to experiment and learn and I love how Tom Price pushes this into processes, it really inspires me.

He has created a series of chairs called 'Meltdown Chairs' in which he presses a seat-shaped former into various balls of meltable material. On his website he provides a video of him creating one made from polypropylene rope. I've watched it a few times and I honestly find it mesmerising. I think its a fascinating process thats simply genius.

I do however feel that perhaps the rope is a fairly ugly material and the beauty of the process is overshadowed. My favourite in the series is made from a PVC hose.

I think the process adds beauty and intrigue to a dull object and the burn marks add a great juxtaposition to the chair with an impressive looking contrast. Its overall spherical form is perhaps a little undesirable, but I still find it enchanting, more in terms of the process, and I think it probably lacks a bit of comfort, but who am I to judge unless I get a chance to sit on one? Despite that I still love it.

I've become rather attached to his gallery of work and I consider him to be a driving force in design, daring to experiment where others may not. A real inspiration in my eyes.

Jess Shaw - Blackbird

2010-01-14T01:30:00.000Z

My biggest design passion completely revolves around lighting, and anyone that knows me in a work environment knows that if you put a pretty light in front of me I will be besotted with its beauty and functionality.

Lighting to me is more than just illuminating a room with its presence, and recently I have become deeply engrossed in Emotional Lighting. To create a light that has such power behind it is both highly intimidating and rewarding, but it fills me with such want and desire that is too much to ignore.

I only seem to have found one designer that labels them self as an Emotional Designer, but that was just after one google search, I'm sure if I spent more time researching, maybe I'd be able to find more. This one designer goes by the name of Jess Shaw, and from just one brief look around her website, I know I'll be a fan for a lifetime.

A couple of her designs really catch my eye, particularly Blackbird

It's simplicity and attentive detail to narrative and form is what draws me in. The contrast between light and dark is always an interesting topic within lighting, and playing with it in such a soft and gentle way is inspiring. The egg shaped light nesting inside is alive with intensity symbolic of life, creation and incubation, something we're all familiar with. She plays with our own ideas of nesting and what we have come to experience as normality and displays it in a modern and inquisitive formation that we can take away in our minds and think about, giving us a subtle emotional attachment.

I'm excited to see what Jess Shaw brings to lighting within the next few years. Waiting in anticipation and admiration.