Bloom Lighting Co. was a collaborative project that was undertaken as part of a final year university project, where the aim was to fuse nature and 3D printing technologies. I was involved in everything from logo design & branding, promotional video production, product design, social media and stand design.
The Foam Pendant Light is a 3D printed light shade made up of 4 sections; the inner shade, outer shade, balls and the top cap. The principal idea behind the shade is that users can play with cast shadows by rotating the outer shade.
Behind the Concept
The Foam Pendant Light was the result of a challenging design brief which was essentially to utilise 3D printing. The brief gave me a great deal of freedom - I quite literally could have designed anything! I quickly decided that I wanted to design a light, and focus on cast shadows. My aim was to design a light that was both viable and 3D print worthy. I decided early on that I wanted to incorporate moving parts into my final light design, but I wasn't initially sure how to do this in a simple way. At first, I took inspiration from a hobermann ball/geodesic sphere and looked at the way it interlocked and joined together. However, this proved to be quite complicated and far too intricate to print in the printers available and within the given time span. I then decided to focus on roller bearing mechanisms and incorporate them into my design and came up with a multi-layered pendant light that has one sandwiched in between to allow users to twist the outer shade to change the layering of cast shadows. The light takes inspiration from the land and the sea; hinting subtly at petals and patterns found within plants including seaweed and coral. The smooth and almost worn down aesthetic suggests erosion; a phenomenon of the natural world.
"The dynamic aspect of this design is really quite
special and a real selling point for the piece."
Imagery to show the Foam Pendant Light in an environment where the cabling matches the room.
New Designers
I got the opportunity to exhibit at New Designer 2015 which was held at the Business & Design Centre in Islington. It came with a raft of challenges including finding a viable way to display 4 lights (mine and the work of three others in my group) in a way that hid all wiring aesthetically while bring all the different designs of light together!
Rich Mix
After graduation, I was invited to put my work forward for the Zealous X Creative Festival. The Foam Pendant Light was selected and was showcased for 2 weeks at Rich Mix in Shoreditch in January 2016.
