Can you explain the concept behind the minimal use of materials in your lamp designs?
I like the lightness of simple things and try to give every design this lightness. This also means using materials sparingly. The core message of a design becomes stronger the simpler it is kept.
When I have a design idea, I try to break it down to a minimum. The low weight can therefore be explained by the minimum amount of material I need to give my luminaires a statement.
I am also fascinated by the aesthetics of lightweight constructions and materials. I like to take these aesthetics to the extreme, to be considerate of details and design solutions, and to design with sensitivity.
How does the design of the Bow luminaire incorporate the structural elegance of modern tent constructions into its functionality and aesthetic?
Today's camping industry is booming. Tent designs have developed enormously in recent years. Materials are becoming lighter and more durable, and tent construction is becoming increasingly self-explanatory. If you put tent poles together and stretch them into their intended construction, volumes are created and spaces are built. The tension of the tent poles keeps everything in shape and forms the supporting structure.
This functionality can also be found in BOW: the tent pole segments create a line on the wall that defines a space. If this line is bent into the space by stretching the cord inside the poles, spatiality is suddenly created. This functionality, which is essential for a tent frame, results in a spatial aesthetic that BOW brings into the interior as a luminaire.
What inspired the unique feature of the easily adjustable cords in your designs, and how does this element reflect a playful yet practical approach?
BOW is shaped by tensioning a cord inside the poles. The tensioning of the cord is also related to tent construction. After assembling the tent pole construction, the tent canvas is placed over the erected pole frame tensioned to the ground with pegs and lashed down storm-proof. The tension in the BOW is absorbed by the wall bracket by "shooting up" the cord, as the technical term goes.
Similar to shooting up the lines when sailing, simply unwinding the cord on the wall bracket is enough to fix the luminaire in its desired shape. In this way, the wall bracket also acts as a cleat, which is the term used in seafaring to describe the device for attaching lines. The cord inside the frame of the light also fulfills another function. When the light is packed, the cord ensures that the tent pole segments are held together so that the light can be stowed compactly.
Amazing. What about the 360° series? What inspired the unique feature of this lighting series?
Almost everyone knows the cable winder button on a Hoover - at the touch of a button, the Hoover takes care of the tangled cable all by itself and simply winds it into its body.
I wanted to make this ingenuity my own and it is also the start of the 360° series. The idea behind this playful lightness is to allow the live cable to "fly along" so that it disappears as a tripping hazard on the floor. The luminaire can be rotated 360 degrees in both directions by placing a finger inside a circular recess on the edge (imagine the movement of dialing on an old telephone), allowing the power cable required for the luminaire to be wound and unwound. Only a quarter of the built-in light source is located behind the aluminium lampshade, allowing the direction of light to be constantly changed when the disc is turned.
360° thus combines the functional aspect of the cable arrangement with the individuality and customisable light direction and cable length of the luminaire.
In what ways do you incorporate sustainability principles into your design process, particularly when selecting materials and construction methods?
It is about the aesthetics of simplicity in my work. Within a design process, I constantly review the necessity of planned elements and construction, I try to reduce these to a minimum or combine them, use materials sparingly and strengthen the core statement.
As a designer and an interior architect, I attach great importance to the construction method of my work, how the components come together and how they can be dismantled or elements replaced. How can I do this with very simple means?
With BOW, it was important to me from the outset to create spatiality, but to be able to return the luminaire to its small pack size again and again, and not to permanently install elements so that they can be replaced if necessary. The built-in LED strip is separate from the rest of the luminaire and can be easily replaced without having to replace the luminaire as a whole.
BOW is not designed as a battery-powered luminaire but can be connected to any standard power bank thanks to the built-in light source and can therefore be used as a battery-powered luminaire.
The flexibility of my designs is important to me, to find material and construction-friendly combinations and to utilise existing systems in order to add value to my designs without having to use additional resources.
Could you elaborate on the balance you aim to achieve between artistic expression and functionality in your lamp designs?
Light makes rooms visible and is the most important design tool for me as an interior designer. Light is there and light cannot be there. But light is only visible when it hits objects or rooms.
As an interior designer, I asked myself what light is, what light does and what light can be. Once you have internalised this, you realise what light means - what power light has! If we don't have light, we can't see, which means that designing with light always fulfils functional purposes.
The aim is to give this functionality a form, to give it expression. For me, that is the balance I strive for, to give expression to a functional idea, to give it an identity.
During your time at Milan Design Week 2024, were there any sustainable designs or bio-inspired creations that particularly impressed you or influenced your thinking?
I was able to see Johanna Seelemann's exhibition and I enjoyed her work. Her Micrographia Project deals with the topic of redesigning for biodiversity and poses the question of how urban products can be designed to benefit people and nature at the same time.
Studio Johanna Seelemann's exhibition emphasises the urgency and idea of inclusive design. Her works are proposals for solutions where the city is seen as a protection of biodiversity. The resulting objects use mineral materials such as a newly developed geopolymer, earth, and terracotta clay and combine functionality with narrative aesthetics.
The result is a habitat facade element for wild insects and birds, seed bombs made from local clay and indigenous plant seeds in the form of the famous Milanese panettone concrete bollards and the oasis vases, which take up an old irrigation system to minimise water loss in cities. It was very intriguing.
