Design illumination: 2007

10/16/07

Everyone did a great job yesterday. I hope you all are feeling positive about what you have done. If any of you have any feedback in specific areas/generally, about the course, content, teaching, other that you would like to discuss - put it here and we can all respond.

10/7/07

view this on youtube its great fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkmpIXd9Q90

10/4/07

Chris

I was wondering if you might consider locating yout throwies to spot in Melbourne, fed square/NGV or something for an occasion. This may influence the form of your design. I was looking at a similar concept for an art opening in Seattle. these were tossed at Hammering Man museum at the Seattle Art Museum for the museum's reopening. How about for the RMIT grad ceremony? as a locating device for your thinking. Would it effect the form of the throwie? would you use the logo? etc etc....
just a thought.

10/2/07

recycled

for all you recyclers
This design provides a template for recycling. Quite a lovely idea.

9/30/07

What a Riot

Hey guys. Check out this site for some serious fun

: )

http://www.pixelsumo.com/

windup lamp

This lantern is said to have a very efficient wind-up mechanism. Apparently, you can get thirty minutes of ambient light from a minute's worth of winding. The light can be placed on a flat surface, or hung up using the recessed loop. You can also charge it via a 12V car socket. Its not a very desirable lamp though... what would you do to it?

9/26/07

Paul and Jessica

This seems interesting:

http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/04/17/anemix-by-ximena-munoz-and-paulina-villalobos/

The theANEMIX is a new lighting system.
They use the uber-efficient OSRAM LED technology to create panels that use dual layers (one luminescent, one reflective) to give off a lovely, bioluminescence-inspired 3D glow.

Paul Cocksedge

Here are some great designs from a young British designer. The first one is called "Bulb". The initial idea behind it was bringing in elements like nature and the concept of "when the flower dies, the light goes out." I cant remember exactly how it works, the flower is used as a conductor.

This second light is a great example of different ways to switch on a light. Its called Watt?".
The concept of taking a pencil and drawing a switch. (the graphite in the lead completing the circuit). He wanted to keep the design pure and apparently had many prototypes to create "an object which was in harmony with its raw ingredients".

Thanks Sophie, my favorite was also the corona light - it's given me another idea on how to deliver natural light to the dark laneways of melbourne.

9/24/07

Kurt and Sha

Aparently their are 2 companys now managing to get some governments to move their street lights over to renewable energy sources like wind and solar powered. One is dutch firm LightWind which went with a odd yet impressive design that basically puts a very large propeller on top of the street lamps. When I say large, the street lamp is 7.5' tall and the propeller is 6.5' in diameter. For those of you that like seeing how much things cost your out of luck because their site lacks all details, though you can apparently contact them for more information.

While LightWind intersts me the size of that propeller and well, the fact it reminds me of willy wonka for some reason, has me leaning towards a different company for my thumbs up on green proofing our street lamps, and it's from China. Duxlite has been apparently lighting up streets in china with a wind/solar hybrid system (solar optional for areas without strong wind). Each streetlamp is basically an independent station like the Lighwind design, but instead of a giant propeller laying ontop, Dixlite opted for a standard 400w wind turbine, with the optional solar addon below.

Personally i'm still trying to understand what exactly everyone is waiting on. Yes i'm sure governements have to deal with the fact that they aren't cheap, but neither is electricity. Especially considering, light poles arent exactly going anywhere, it's like a government office being rented. How much sense would it make if the US goverment was renting the whitehouse from some joe shmoe. Great for joe shmoe, pretty idiotic from governments standpoint. Infrastructure and things like city lighting need to be moved to independent systems. Why should our street lamps suck up electricity from the grid, and rely on the grid at all. Next time theirs a power outage, it wouldnt matter with one of these systems because of the fact they are completely independent of the grids.

Wet Lamp.... extend extend

"The WET Lamp is an elegant and playful series of glass lamps with an alluring water-submerged light bulb at its center. Putting an exposed light bulb in water certainly raises some eyebrows, but it also creates an intriguingly simple dimmer switch. When a thin silver rod is slid into the water, the WET Lamp turns on and becomes progressively brighter as the rod is submerged.
Despite its precarious concept, the Wet lamp is a completely safe and isolated system of low voltage power."

Hand blown borosilicate glass, silicone gaskets, silver electrode and contact, 10W Xenon bulb with gold plug.

Sha have you seen this?

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004369.html

and check this out as well:

http://www.onedotzero.com/windtolight/

The VERY quaint
Suck UK Solar Charged Light, Sun Jar
Jam jars store jam, the Sun jar collects and stores sunshine so that you can use it at night

Made with a traditional Mason jar and high tech energy efficient lighting! Captured inside the jar are a highly efficient solar cell, rechargeable battery and low energy LED lamps.
When the jar is placed in sunlight the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. This energy is then used at night to power the three LED lamps inside the jar. The light is diffused by the frosted jar and give the appearance of sunlight emitting from the jar.
There is no switch on the sun jar - in fact there are no visible controls at all - there is a clever light sensor inside that automatically activates the lights when it gets dark or lights are turned out!
Sun Jars are not only beautiful but by their very nature they are completely water tight - so the Sun Jar can happily be left outside in any weather conditions. A perfect garden light or night light for a kids bedroom.

Thanks Simon for putting this out. Your light shines bright.
Come on all of you. Its 'share your ideas' time. I saw an interesting site on Solar powered christmas decorations. Loooved the icicles.
check it out at

http://inventorspot.com/solar_power_for_the_holidays

There is some amazing inspiration out there guys-
For those of you doing energy concious stuff check out some great designs at
http://www.inhabitat.com/category/interiors/lighting/

My Favorite: Corona Solar Light, an outdoor lighting solution that combines a photovoltaic cell, LEDs, and sunflower-esque form to bring a lovely solar-powered glow to your outdoor spaces. The self powered Corona Lamp can be used indoors and out - attached to a wall, staked and “planted” like a flower, or just placed on a tabletop- all without glues or fasteners. Winaya check out the 'Energy orb' basic but conceptually sound

and Kurt.. some stuff for you too
Lunar resonant Lights
We’ve seen tons of lighting projects that harness the sun’s energy, but none that respond to the other, oft-overlooked light source that graces our sky the other 12 hours of the day (or night, as the case may be). Civil Twilight Collective’s amazing Lunar Resonant Streetlight system is so ingenious that it was just named the grand prize winner of Metropolis’ Next Generation 2007 contest, which crowns one forward-thinking project as the most promising and innovative new idea (this year the competition focused on energy). The high-tech streetlight has an embedded ultra-sensitive photocell that responds to the changing brightness of moonlight, turning on and dimming as appropriate, cutting down on unnecessary light pollution while making evening strolls down Main Street more pleasant and energy-efficient.

Mayuko and Julian if you would like to revisit your recycled lamp check out the Recycled cascade bottle chandelier on the same blog.. Also Mayuko- the DIY lamp

Pip: I quote 'Clive Thompson Thinks: Desktop Orb Could Reform Energy Hogs'
Here's an even wilder idea: How about making our energy use visible to everyone? Imagine if your daily consumption were part of your Facebook page — and broadcast to your friends by RSS feed. That would trigger what Ambient Devices CEO David Rose calls the sentinel effect: You'd work harder to conserve so you don't look like a jackass in front of your peers.

9/20/07

Design Boom does lamps...

check out the oh so many desklamps in the form we love best... pictures

'lillpendel'
by johan petter johansson for triplex, sweden, 1945

Also some more pendant illumination,
(Please note that none are wall mounted)

by poul henningsen for louis poulsen, 1957

Designboom has a tonne to offer including some interesting competitions, so keep in touch with your design community throughsites like this.

Design illumination