(February 2013) Regarding product design in stone we constantly emphasize that it is not sufficient to replace usual material with stone. Our conviction is that the stone must be an integral part of the product’s functionality. E.g.: if mass is important to a product, stone is well suited because of its weight.
Designers of Tord Boontje Studio of London have developed a floor lamp with a stone counterweight.
The designer’s solution as to where and how to add counterweight is surely surprising: at the foot of the lamp a wire basket filled with a few chunks of stone provides the necessary mass. Where did they come from? Perhaps from the most recent kike across fields and meadows, who knows.
This makes the foot of the lamp affordable and keeps the cost of transportation to a minimum: the designer lamps can be purchased on-line. Buyers would not be amused if they had to pay for transportation of worthless chunks of stone.
In a press-release designers ask whether unnecessary transportation of tons of material around the globe could be reduced: a gripping theme for the stone branch.
Two more „Lightweight lamps“ complete the collection: One piece is a desk-lamp. Its wire basket is a bit larger than a standard piece of paper. Thus it can double as a paper-tray.
And then there is the boom light (Photo at the top). Its basket can be moved causing the source of light to move in the opposite direction.
The boom of the lamp is made of bamboo cultivated in Scotland. The lamp shade is made of paper.
LED-lights serve as light sources.
Of course one is not restricted as to what should fill the wire baskets. Books e.g. or fruit are suitable objects as well. But one should remember that the lamp requires the counterweight to prevent it from tipping.
Photos: Studio Tord Boontje
