During this year’s edition of Light+Building in Germany, a special exhibit sponsored by Messe Frankfurt highlighted a crop of up-and-coming young designers.
For 28 years, products from exhibitors and young designers in the fields of lighting and building automation have competed for the Design Plus award. This year, 128 companies from 26 countries took part, including 84 young designers who qualified for the “Design Plus for Young Creative Talents” portion of the awards competition. While many of the participants have been producing lighting for several years, this new exhibit was created to draw attention to promising young designers from all over the world and get their names and companies on the radar of the lighting industry at large.
Julian F Bond:
After graduating with a BSc in Architecture at The Bartlett, UCL in London, Julian F. Bond embarked on the MA Product Design course at the Royal College of Arts. His Pixel Machine, displayed at the graduation show in 2010, garnered a great deal of interest from galleries and the media. At Light+Building, he displayed his Olmec lights, which are cast in rubber and take on the finely detailed appearance of the original wooden molds. www.julianfbondco.uk
Vel:
Dorota Pakula vel Rutka and Karolina Chyziak are graduates of the industrial design program at Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Poland. Together they have formed a company called Vel. “In our projects, we like to challenge the conventional ways of thinking about the product,” they say. “We believe that beautiful objects can’t be useless, and that useful objects can’t be boring.” The designers used colorful braided fabric-covered cords wrapped on a simple metal frame to create the UL lamp, which is illuminated by a 13-watt E27 light source. www.velhome.com
FAMOS:
At the Berlin-based office of FAMOS – Büro für Gestaltung, Hanna Litwin and Romin Heide develop solutions for different fields of design. They take on commissioned work (from single pieces to large-scale production) as well as graphic or product design. “We like to work in between disciplines to create new concepts,” they say. The duo is comfortable working with two- or three-dimensional designs in their workshop or on the computer. Their specialty is combining traditional techniques with new materials and modern processes. They presented their Orb pendants at Light+Building. www.buerofamos.com
Osmund Olsen:
Scandinavian designer Osmund Olsen has successfully applied his creativity to products as diverse as dining tables and candleholders to shoes, kitchen knives, and lighting. At Light+Building, he displayed a lighting series that he devised while completing his degree in Product Design at Denmark’s Design School in Kolding. Inspired by the flared tutu of a classically trained ballerina, the acrylic pendants are offered in several styles and lamped with LED. www.osmundolsen.com
Robert Bensch:
Robert Bensch, a product designer currently based in Sweden, has long been interested in lighting — from public lighting and light pollution issues to how lighting affects mood/behavior. He is also keenly interested in 3D printing. “I recently came to terms with 3D-printing as a production and development method when biodegradeable plastics made from renewable sources hit the market,” he says. “I am also interested in all kinds of different materials that can be printed, but also hand-crafted. Where do we need a light, and how much of it?” Bensch unveiled his solution – called Sattelights – at Light+Building. His system invites the user to re-assemble and adjust the Sattelights based on the individual’s needs. The Sattelights system is easily expandable and offers a maximum of flexibility in assembly and placement. It is comprised of basic materials and components that are available to everyone and, Bensch hopes, promotes 3D printing as an on-demand manufacturing process that offers open access to replacement or extension parts.
In the Sattelights system, the pieces easily fit together. It runs on 12-volt DC power and utilizes SMD-LEDs. The power supply can drive up to 20 Sattelights, each with a 2-watt light source. It can be attached to a variety of standard-sized components available anywhere, and works well in cluster compositions. www.iprint3d.de
Naama Steigman:
Lighting and jewelry designer Naama Steigman earned a bachelor’s degree in Design & Interior Architecture from Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) in Israel and also holds a certified Goldsmith diploma. She displayed a series of lighting from her BabyLoveis collection, which is handmade from Moluccella Laevis flowers gathered in the fields in summertime, then dried and preserved in a natural way that gives the flower strength, elasticity, and long-lasting life. When the process is done, the flowers are separated and inserted into a skin-like membrane made from recycled paper. Steigman places great importance on using recycled materials and being “green.” www.naamasteigman.com
ALDO FREUND:
Frankfurt-based designer Aldo Freund created the Hias metal pendant in homage to the 1950s Tulip or cone-shaped lights. In describing Hias, he says, “It confines itself from the typical cone-shaped design by accenting the illuminant, not hiding it within the lamp. Inside the lampshade a round neon tube is held by leather strips. These strips hang freely, thereby disrupting the symmetry of the lamp. The same leather is also used for covering the wire and as a strain relief. www.aldofreund.com
