Spar Light by Jamie McLellan

Thin, full of lines wisely discontinuous, it speaks about acrobatics and tensions. “Stressed” tensions, when the whole stands up thanks to a red electric wire, as for a poetic funambulism, when the semi-transparent string, pulled, leaves the scene to the neat lines of the skeleton.

Spar Light, by Jamie McLellan, at Design Junction, London Design Festival, September 22 – 25, via: abitare

Coral Reef Light by QisDesign

The Coral Reef Light, created by japanese design studio QisDesign, is an LED lamp with an organic-like form, designed in collaboration with Taiwan’s National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

The design is produced as a silver-coloured table lamp, standing 465mm (18.3 inches) tall, and a metallic floor lamp standing 1618mm (5.3 feet), both composed of aluminum alloys and polycarbonate. The floor lamp features three petals,each independently activated by swiveling, while the table lamp has a single adjustable layer and is turned on and off by a button on the stand.

Coral Reef Table Light, Coral Reef Floor Light, by QisDesign

Kikomo Lamps by Renaud Thiry

Kikomo, by Renaud Thiry

Forêt illuminée by Ionna Vautrin for Super-ette

Two trees intertwined, an imaginary animal, a cloud hugging the ground… Composed of a luminous cocoon wearing two trunks of wood, this light awakens the imagination. Two simple wooden cylinders extend as light masts on which lies a misty lampshade in tyvek.

Forêt illuminée, by Ionna Vautrin, for Super-ette

Wig Pendant by Chris Hardy for FontanaArte

“When I was conceptualizing this design I was inspired by the of society-a unique, organic social structure formed through the relationships that connect an individual to a greater community. This idea of a single mass constructed of smaller individual elements I found to be an interesting concept to visualize through form.”
- Chris Hardy

FontanaArte Wig Pendant, by Chris Hardy Design

Jean-François d’Or: Golden Child of Belgian Design

Thirty-seven-year old Jean-François d’Or (a name that befits the sunny, luminous quality about him) is considered one of the most talented, prolific and appreciated designers in Belgium.

In 2010, he was chosen to represent his hometown, Brussels, during the national design week (Design September), and a retrospective selection of his works was displayed in one of the shiny spheres of the iconic Atomium. On this occasion, critics praised his “simple, unpretentious, logical objects that appeal as much for their evident, clearly perceptible design as well as their discrete poetry”. “Humble” is quite the epithet for Jean-François d’Or — and he proudly claims the label, turning these words from Belgian poet George Linze into his motto: “A strange phosphorescence covers the humblest objects as if poetry were only what is extraordinary about the ordinary”.

Droog design, Domani, Interni Edition, Konstantin Slawinski, Jongform, Ligne Roset (his terracotta Maternity pot was recently released during the Milan Salone, another landmark in the collaboration he started a few years ago with the Roset group) or The Conran Shop are among the brands his name has been associated with. Lately, he has designed a bed for Magnitude (which was introduced during the Kortrijk fair) and a series of door handles for Vervloet (on display at Maison&Objet in Paris). A large panel which somehow illustrates his versatility, as well as his ability to absorb himself into raw material, whether clay, glass, metal or wood is involved.

Graduated from the renowned La Cambre School of design in Brussels (1998), he started his own studio, Loudor design, five years later. In between, he had managed to achieve a project in New York with textile designer Caroline Ray, then to work in his homeland with star designers such as Maarten Van Severen and Hans De Pelsmacker. Already granted a Henry van de Velde award (Belgium’s most coveted prize in the design field), this deeply grounded young man’s creations are now everywhere, through his brainchild: Loudor design has set up ongoing collaborations with the most prestigious design labels in Europe. A gifted, modern day alchemist, well-named Jean-François d’Or seems to turn everything he touches into gold.

– Elodie Palasse-Leroux
(French journalist Elodie Palasse-Leroux is the founder and editor of Sleek design, launched in 2009)

Bonbonne hanging lamp, Bonbonne floor lamp, Arlequin, Bonbonne, Drop, Mezzoluna, by Jean-François d’Or, Loudor design

Crimean Pinecone Lamp by Pavel Eekra

Crimen pinecone lamp consists of 56 plates and screws, without an internal skeleton due to rounding forms plaques form gaps through which light passes. Boards themselves are also slightly transparent, this creates a particular pattern of light from the outside and downward bright light. Flatpack in natural maple veneer.

Crimean Pinecone Lamp, by Pavel Eekra

Lobot Desk Lamp by Jinseok Hwang

“I will see what you see.”
As a designer, Jinseok Hwang always thought about presenting stories to people in a unique way through product design. He was inspired by the movements of the humanoid robot and mechanics from movies and comic books and tried to give life and emotion into a desk lamp design. Lobot means “Lighting” plus “Robot” as well as a “Robot” designed by “low tech”. Lobot is a desk lamp with LED lighting source. Its simple design with anodized aluminum body will match with modern task environment. The body is designed to easily adjust and optimize for a particular task situation by well-engineered hinge system.

Lobot Desk Lamp, by Jinseok Hwang, for studioLOBOT

Chouchin by Ionna Vautrin

Chouchin is the Japanese word for the traditional, symbolic paper and bamboo lanterns used as light, luminous signs outside public places or as lucky charms outside homes. They are inspired by this ethereal, poetic and… almost magical object and has reinterpreted it in a contemporary key. It has an essential and, at the same time, evocative design: the glass body, obtained through a single blowing process, is closed by a collar underneath. Colour played a key role in the choice of materials: glass offers a warm surface on which the varnish produces a full, brilliant colour.

Chouchin, by Ionna Vautrin, Edited by Foscarini

Orbita by Simon Busse for Almerich

Applying high-tech sheet steel laser cutting for the production of a luminaire, which is nevertheless characterised by a plain construction, was the starting point for Orbita. The lampshade consists of 16 identical elements, which are without the use of tools inserted into a centrally positioned ring holding the central illuminant. Due to the folded edges, the elements achieve a very high stability and require only minimal material input. Despite its seemingly complex body, Orbita is characterised by both lightness and a clean structure.

Orbita, by Simon Busse, for Almerich