David Trubridge Studio has won a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum. Established in 1958, the prestigious award program recognizes the most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs produced around the world.
The studio’s winning design Navicula was inspired by Diatoms, commonly known as algae and plankton. Diatoms are one of the largest and ecologically most significant groups of organisms on Earth. They are also one of the easiest to recognize because of their unique cell structures.
“Diatoms are at the base of the entire oceanic food chain,” says lighting designer David Trubridge. “They take more carbon out of the atmosphere than anything else — even more than all the world’s tropical rainforests. Through photosynthesis, they liberate enough oxygen for our every fifth breath. The studio was stunned to learn what an essential part these organisms play, and we wanted to create a powerful representation that had visual energy. We love the idea of people being able to talk about the importance and meaning of our light when they have it in their homes.”
The flowing, segmented form of Navicula ships flat, with minimal assembly required. The thin curved pieces of cut-bamboo plywood also cast subtle “magical patterns” on adjacent spaces. The luminaire is lit by a custom-made LED light bar, and is available worldwide.
