Sketch Lamp
When looking for a medium or material for a design, inspiration is often found in the strangest places. In the case of the Sketch Lamp, chances are it’s just above your head and out of sight.
Taking 12-gauge hanger wire from its typical use of suspending ceiling grids loaded with fluorescent fixtures and crafting it into a personal tabletop light fixture, our design team thought it was just quirky enough to work. Distorting the wire by hand, we began to understand that this was leading toward creating a base for the lamp. And then caping the new fixture with a custom plexiglass canopy methodically crafted using a heat gun and applying gentle pressure.
Hand sculpted, the wire recalls both the elegant lines of art nouveau and the frenetic energy of a conceptual sketch. The lamp also incorporates some traditional elements such as a custom light housing, simple switch, and chord selected to blend in with the color and lines of the lamp. Both familiar and foreign simultaneously in its resemblance to other table lamps, its sculptural qualities shift from bend to bend allowing each one to become an improvisation to the question of, “What is a lamp?” Thus, elevating the wire from a simple material choice to an artistic medium for inquiry and expression.
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Awards:
Winner, SIT Design Awards