Duramen
Tree Inspired Lighting
Using the principles of point, line, and plane design a lighting piece. 10 weeks
I initially looked into reflecting and bouncing light using different planes and surfaces. During ideation I changed my focus to look at how I could merge industrial materials with the cross section of a tree.
Research
Early concepts explored my early research around bouncing light around in order to create spot lights, or ambient lighting.
Concepts & Refinement
Later I turned to using the structure of a tree as my blueprint and broke the structure down to three of it’s different layers; bark, sap wood, and heartwood.
In order to bring industrial elements into my layering scheme I milled pockets out of PVC pipe which acted as the main structure. I experimented with pre applying veneers to the pipe and milling my shapes in but unfortunately the veneers would blow out.
Process
After milling my final piece of PVC I hand painted the edges white so that the middle layer was consistent all the way around and later applied the veneers
The base was turned from Indonesian Kou, given the opportunity to revisit this project I would have chosen to go with walnut instead since it is a domestic hardwood.
