Light Fixture Design - Lighting - 3rd Year

Looking back, it feels like this project happened within the time span of a week. Interesting process to say the least...most of the ideas came through sporadic bursts of inspiration. The design was for the Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Competition. It was a refreshing challenge compared to designing an interior, because an interior of a building has so many layers of information that your eye has to sift through, whereas a light fixture is a single object, and any imperfections are staring you in the face.

The greatest challenge for me was finding inspiration for a design that was extremely simple yet timeless and elegant. I wanted to steer clear of any "decoration" or unnecessary frills for the light fixture. Added on to that, to abide by the competition rules, it had to be an exterior porch light fixture and had to take into consideration light pollution and efficient use of energy. I also learned how to wire a light fixture and all the components that it needs to operate through the technical drawings, which was actually enjoyable considering I only had a vague idea that I was doing it correctly, haha.

The inspiration came from a chair I found online, European designer Dima Loginoff's "Dounyasha" chair...unbelievably gorgeous. That led to me making a model of the light out of wire and paper, to get a better idea of how it would look from various angles. I'm satisfied with the final outcome of the four boards, but the 3d modeling of the fixture could be tremendously improved. It'll add some variety to my portfolio. The winners of the competition will be announced mid-May...so we'll see!