La Nature Epoca, which roughly translates to “vintage nature”, is a lamp inspired by the concept of blending traditional, naturally occurring forms with a touch of modernity. It is composed with various types of wood and glass, which has great contrast and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
The lamp is operated by a line cord switch which turns it on and off, and the angle in which to direct the light can adjusted by gently moving the lamp head up or down.
In this project, I researched and explored our two different materials, which are wood and glass. I am also the main model builder of the prototypes and the final lamp.
Cindy Chen | Jennifer Hiew | Mia Qiang
We started our project by researching the resolution of the light. In my group, I researched the famous lamp: "Tiffany lamp". Three of my other teammaters researched lamps that were populor in the 1980s and contemporary light.
Through the research, we have an overview about how the resolution of the lamp developed chronologically. We focused on four main sections, which are aesthetics, functionality, society, and materiality. Through these points, we can undersand the process of designing a lamp. The in depth research helped inform our design.
We chose wood as the common material and glass as the uncommon material to start the reseach on their properties. For the wood, we selected pine and we chose it for making the base and body of our lamp. The reason that we picked wood was because wood represents nature and it also could be an antiquity.
We also chose glass to hold our light source. Glass is made from natural and abundant raw materials. Glass also represents modernity and the thickness of the glass can provide either softer, ambient lighting or stronger lighting.
Ideations and Sketches
When our team completed the 1st prototype of our lamp, we measured roughly at a 1:1 scale. We decided to first develop the form, rather than the aesthetics, to endure that the lamp functioned as intended. The model lamp's angle can be adjusted using the wing nut washers on its sides.
Initial prototype
The aesthetic of the light needed to be iterated. The body of the lamp was very bulky, the base of the light was way too simple and light, which may have caused safety issues. The glass, which was used for the case of the light bulb, was not effectively used and was not necessary. The square shape of different parts makes the lamp lack a natural feeling.
We used a piece of driftwood for the body, giving it a naturally occurring curve and unique look.
We also turned the base into a shallow box, setting small pieces of glass into the top of the box, then shining a light beneath the glass so that it shines through the glass curve.
The first prototype that we used was pine material. Pine is a variety of soft wood that is creamy in color. Commonly used to build furniture, it is also to resist swelling and shrinking. Pine’s light colouration allows it to be stained easily in a darker color, if desired. Unfortunately, it was heavy when we used it to make the lamp. Pine and glass did not look cohesive in our case.
We continued to use pine as our base, but we changed the body and light bulb casing to bamboo wood. The bamboo is in its size, lightness, and strength an extreme product of nature. It is stable and, because of its cavities, an extremely light and elastic building material. The reinforcement by diaphragms and its physical conditions cause its enormous superiority compared to other building materials.
By exploring the physical properties of different materials, and through the design process, I learned to use the uniqueness of that material to create an artwork in various environments. For example, based on the differences of pine and bamboo, we used them separately on different parts of the lamp. We also made the lamp environmently-friendly to achieve our design goal.
