Where the Lily Lamp Stemmed from?
This week’s blog is about my first lighting piece the Lily Lamp, where the idea stemmed from, and how I made this luxurious sculptural lighting piece.
Let’s begin.
I had just come back from South East Asia where I been traveling for 6 months, full of inspiration and with a burning desire to get creative again. After months away from designing or making with my bare hands, I found it hard to get back into the creative rhythm again, I was ricocheting from one idea to the next, never truly happy with one concept. I decided to take a pause and look back at past sketchbooks and models from my time at university studying 3d Design, where I found old scrap bits of metal I used to collect and play with, by manipulating and shaping them into odd quirky forms. That's when I notice a shiny triangular piece folded into an almost cone-like shape. I then realized if placed a certain way it looked like the bud of a small Lily flower. Eureka you may have thought or light bulb moment, however, I initially thought it would be great as a fruit bowl as you can see below.
Lily fruit bowl
At the time I found lighting design a bit daunting, with my lack of electric know-how, etc. Out of curiosity though, I decided to draw up some concepts of how I could turn this bowl into a lamp while still keeping the elegance of a flower.
Lily Table Lamp Drawing
As soon as I drew this I immediately knew I had to make this piece as I was just in awe at the way it emulates the flora forms in such a simple way.
I thought it would be wise to start small, at a table lamp size to iron out the creaks, then take on a floor lamp version. The most challenging part was developing a way to attach the shade and lighting apparel to the stem in a neat aesthetically pleasing way. Which sounds easy, but after trialing numerous complicated concepts involving multiple parts, the simplest way was to make the shade to better fit the stem while enclosing it slightly.
Success I did it and with only electrocuting myself once in the process happy days!!!
I was very pleased with my first lighting piece, although I wasn’t happy with the proportions of this piece as I believe the head was a bit too big for the stem and base. But you gotta start somewhere and I knew this would be better suited to Floor lamp size so bring it on?
The Main problem now in making more is with raw materials for the stem, in particular, to make the shade and lighting apparel attach neatly I chose to thread the tube( Stem part ) which requires a certain diameter and thickness to work. It was very tricky to source this for a fair price, however, I believe it was worth the effort to achieve a well thought professional design.
The reaction to these lamps have been great and pellicular to some, but for those who see it, understand each one is unique and different and should be treated as a sculpture in its own right. Due to the way the distinctive shades are made, in a spontaneous way of hand beating the steel to produce these alluring organic forms and textures. I believe this piece bridges the gap between Art and Design.
Looking back has been a delightful feeling, remembering the crucial sparks of creativity at certain moments to make this happen is a very humbling experience.