Sunday, March 11, 2012

Light with no sense of proportion




This is a slightly silly project brought about by a slight interest in bigger brighter faster and louder things.

Some friends of mine and I recently purchased a piece of industrial equipment for a slightly secret project. Attached to what looks like a hunk of rusty metal to most was an octagonal "funnel" made of plywood and fibreglass.



The funnel has been the subject of much discussion lately which mostly boils down to "it's too good throw away" and yet it has been taking up space in an undisclosed workshop for some time now.

Enter one half baked idea:
I enjoy designing furniture with a rather raw industrial aesthetic out of scaffolding pipe and other ridiculously over engineered materials. See bad photos of a bunk bed and computer desk I built for my time as a student in Auckland.












Now I quite like Industrial light fittings.. So the only logical thing is to use this funnel for a light shade! Why a light shade? Well here's the inspiration.


The stereotypical Retro hanging lamp that you see in many minimalist apartments.

So the arm is going to be 40mm scaffolding pipe and the base is going to be more... Pipe...

The only part that is undecided is what kind of light source do I use and HOW MUCH POWER?

Some suggestions:
Low Pressure Sodium: Very yellow and very efficient with a decidedly streetlight aesthetic.
High Pressure Sodium: Better CRI and less yellow but a VERY "hemp" aesthetic.
Metal Halide: Better CRI again still "hemp" and expensive.
Mercury Vapour: Decidedly green tinge and cheap.

So what should it be? And how much power should it consume?





6 comments:

  1. How tall is the lamp going to be?? I think you should use Low Pressure Sodium.. And then if you ever should get low on money you can take your giant lamp to a street corner and sell yourself to the night! much like Roxanne!
    Give it a real authentic experience!

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    1. The arm is going to be a full 6m length of Scaffolding pipe :-)

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  2. There's only one reasonable answer here. It should consume ALL the power. Anything else and you're underselling it.

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    1. Good idea Elf, perhaps I should put a softsun bulb into it?

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  3. That funnel looks rather like the bottom part of a stovetop coffee-maker.

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    1. It does rather... An Italian bomb of that size would make for one hell of a caffeine hit :-)

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