ICFF: Lighting Trends
If there’s anything that I learned during the two days I spent at ICFF, it’s that I’m a little too obsessed with lighting. Sure, lighting is one of the most important, yet often one of the most overlooked elements in design, but my excitement over pendant lamps measuring almost five feet in diameter is beyond ridiculous. Luckily for you, though, that just means lots of pictures that will hopefully inspire you to get rid of that $10 piece of junk from IKEA. And don’t tell me you don’t have one, because I know you do. My favorites from the show are after the jump, and when I wade through the mounds of press kits I lugged home, I’m sure there’ll be even more.
The second I saw Ali Siahvoshi‘s “Hungry” fixture, I did two things: one, I mentally purchased it and hung it in my kitchen and two, tried to figure out if a homemade version of it could be half as beautiful as this one. My verdict: unlikely.
Makoto Tojiki‘s “Archimedes’ Dream” prototypes included a hanging and floor version, and are actually organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The blue version eerily hung against the black booth; the pink floor version was a little more subdued than the blue so naturally, didn’t photograph so well. From across the room, they looked like ribbons of light — very, very neat.
By far one of the nicest people I met at ICFF, and one of my absolute favorite lines, Simon at Sibir Design had four versions of these pendant lamps that are utterly stunning in person; the photos don’t do them the justice they deserve. They come flat-packed and the cardboard version is assembled by lining up the animals to their mates; it’s also available in aluminum, DVD and CD versions (the latter two are customizable with whatever label you would like). The best part? The cardboard is made from 100% recycled wood pulp and all of them are recyclable when you’re done.
Matthew Kroeker’s gorgeous Saw Table Light was part of HutJ‘s contribution to the New Design Canada exhibit — the lighting level is controlled by moving the lamp to different slots cut out of the console. I’m really looking forward to their website launching and watching what sort of pieces come out of this obviously talented collective of young canadian designers.
Pablo‘s display was huge and at the end of my day, almost too much to absorb. The pieces that stood out, at least to me, were these two table lamps: the colorful acrylic ones are just so fun and the LED task lamps are still in the prototyping stage, which I discovered when I attempted to adjust its position and Jon had to save the poor thing from falling over. Yet another piece that folds down to flat-packing, to cut down on waste and shipping costs.
At first glance, Tazana‘s lights look like they are made from ceramic, but in actuality, they are either silicone or plastic. According to the guy manning the booth, customers aren’t smart enough to put the white versions together themselves, but the smaller green and translucent white lampshades actually spiral and lie flat until you lift them up. Either way, they were hands-down my favorite lights at ICFF.
Jielde have been crafting their iconic task lighting since 1950, and the pieces have, accordingly, become quite collectible. With Inside Modern Living behind a bigger push for distribution in Canada and the US, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of these in both commercial and residential settings in the future.
Diana Lin‘s REi (“ray”) Huggable lighting pillow is exactly that. Filled with silicone bubbles and lit by LEDs, the pillow is powered by either four AA batteries or by an AC adapter. While it seems perfect for a nursery setting, it also made me want to lie down and nap with one. So freaking cute.
