From the Series
Swedish designers Front were recently commissioned by Dutch design company Booo! Studio to create two pendant lamps for Milan Design Week 2012.
The brief required the designers to create a special edition lamp, as well as a production model (costing less than €100 to make) but both pieces had to take something of an alternative approach to lighting design.
Front developed the “Surface Tension Lamp” and the “Lampshade Bulb”, both inspired by the long life of an LED, which is around 10 years.
The Surface Tension Lamp is the special edition model, which is made up of a metal base. From this base bubbles are blown to grow, catching and reflecting the light to create a multi-coloured temporary structure in a room. Front says: “ We wanted to create a constantly changing lamp that combines the most ephemeral of lampshades with an LED light source”.
Lampshade Bulb, the production version, conversely combines the bulb and the lampshade into a single object. Creating the illusion of a lamp without a bulb, the Lampshade Bulb blurs the boundary between light source and lampshade.