Lighting
Explorations in alternative forms of lamps and other forms of illumination
Tilted cubes
This lamp was inspired by a design school class project in search of visual balance (thanks Connie!) and has a Bauhaus / Suprematist vibe to it. The back is hollow and has two small bulbs illuminating the wall.
12" by 12” by 5" — Wenge, padauk, zebrawood and mahogany. 2024
W.E.B. Lamp #11
The scholar and Black rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois presented a series of beautiful and insightful graphs for an exhibit at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. This was decades before this type of artwork was popularized by Malevich and Kandinsky. He graphed the Black population of Georgia during the 1890s -- from large cities, to towns, and to rural areas as it moves towards the spiral. LED lights illuminate under the top slab.
6" by 14” by 4" — Padauk, cherry, zebrawood, and mahogany on paulownia. 2024
Bauhaus Lamp 1
These lamps are inspired by the design and art done at Germany's Bauhaus in the 1920s, which hosted modern artists such as Kandinsky, Albers, Gropius, and Klee.
8" by 8” by 21" — Mahogany, walnut, wenge, and padauk. 2024
Lamp 2
6" by 9” by 19" — Paldoa, wenge, and padauk. 2024
Bauhaus Lamp 3
8" by 8” by 12" — Wenge, paldoa, sapele,and padauk. 2024
Minard's Map
A lamp, illuminated in the rear by LEDs, set in an open book. The inside pages are a 1869 map by Frenchman Charles Minard, which shows Napoleon's troops on their way and back from France to Russia in 1812. It unites six different sets of data: geography, time, troops, their path, and temperature. The temperature is key to understanding why he lost so many men. There is also his map of Hannibal’s (not Lector) crossing of the Alps.
12" by 9” by 8" — Spanish cedar, walnut, sen, wenge. 2024
6" by 9” by19" — Paldoa, wenge, and padauk. 2024
Rising Box Sconces
This pair of wall sconces are lit from behind in three tiers and from the back using adjustable LED lights that plug into the wall. Each tier rises 1/2" higher from the last and is lit from behind. The left sconce is a mirror image of the right. The design was inspired by early 1900's Russian Supremacist painter Kazimir Malevich.
12" by 9” by 3" — Wenge, paulownia, walnut burl, and padauk on a maple base. 2024
Sputnik
In 1957, the Russians launched the first space satellite in orbit and touched off the space race. It also revolutionized our educational system be competitive with the USSR. This lamp pays homage to Sputnik, and has LED strip lighting embedded in its 12 arms.
24” by 12” by 8: — Zebrawood, sapele, isombe, paldoa, walnut, and padauk. 2024
Three Long Books Lamp
A desktop lamp that highlights three long, but influential (at least to me) books. Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, and Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel Escher, Bach. The lighting is indirect, plugs into the wall, and comes out the open back.
10" by 8” by 7" — Monkeypod, walnut, sapele, mahogany, maple, paulownia, padauk, and birch. 2024
Cut-out Leaf Chandelier
Matisse-inspired leaves on a birch framework painted black. There is a 5” globe bulb in the center. It is very fragile!
24” by 12” — Sapele, isombe, and padauk, on a birch frame with maple arms. 2024
Leaf Fan Lamp
Matisse-style leaves inspired from his 1940s cut-out era. Each pair radiates out from from the center. LED lights line the back leaves provide nice indirect lighting.
9" by 11” by 5" deep — Lacewood, sen, walnut and sapele on a wenge base. 2024
Open Book Lamp
A book with internal LED lighting between pages
6" x 6" x 9" -- Sapele, walnut, mahogany, birds-eye oak, padauk, cherry, and curly maple on oak. 2024
Bauhaus Lamps
These lamps are inspired by the design and art done at Germany's Bauhaus in the 1920s, which hosted modern artists such as Kandinsky, Albers, Gropius, and Klee.
8" by 8” by 21" — Mahogany, walnut, wenge, and padauk. 2024