We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Urban Fiction about their original and creative Floor Lamp design work. Urban Fiction is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original floor lamp works.
Urban Fiction ("UF") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Urbanoids Floor Lamp. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
UF : Our intension was to combine technology and handcrafted techniques as well as natural and industrial materials. A thorough experimentation with the wood lamination technique led as to familiar natural patterns such as the formation created by the wind on the sand, which was the inspiration for the further development of the project and finally the visual representation of the current city status and humanity's nature consciousness.
UF : The challenge was to create a light source of high aesthetics as well as functional, that could be reproduced in a limited number and have an impact to the viewers enhancing their environmental awareness. Nevertheless important, was to expand the possibilities of the wood lamination technique. Thus the process was like two parallel evolved paths where at some point came across.
UF : Our team's main goal for this design is to promote and expose it as a product as well as to present an alternative way of creating an object that evolves human's interaction assisted by the technological advances.
UF : Each stage was bringing new design experiences and thoughts to incorporate which eventually concluded to the concept. Our common thought was "let the technique to lead the design". In total, designing and making took eighteen months.
UF : It started more of an open conversation with the light, the materials and the meanings. Most important was to gain as much as possible through the creative process of designing and making and then to adjust it into to the market.
UF : This work has been produced by the members of the group and the design has not been used from another company. We are open to discuss any suggestions or offers related to this design that could the exploit its possibilities to the market.
UF : It was a creative process that ended up to a work and vice versa.
UF : The group's influence can be spotted more at a theoretical level on references of P.Dormer or M.McCullough since through this research we approached the current design issue of handcrafted and machine made.
UF : The most suitable target group for this piece could be organizations, companies or individuals that dispose a place suitable to accept and expose the piece in order to reveal and communicate with the viewer as well as to be functional and interact with the space.
UF : Urbanoids captures the current condition of contemporary urban environment. There is a balance between the scale and the volume of the object in relation with space. The whole piece reveals harmony and redefines the boundaries between a functional product and an artifact of high aesthetics.
UF : "Urbanoids", refers to the alienation of urban population from nature and to the vital need for reconnection.
UF : The final design is a combination of different design tools. The starting point of the process was the live experiments we made in order to exploit the technique while the visual research led us to the shape of the piece. The development was based on model making as well as freehand sketches and for the realization of the final idea we made use of the computer designing programs.
UF : This floor lamp is a combination of organic and linear forms, natural and industrial materials, cold and warm light sources, which gives to the piece an aesthetic balance as well as a unique identity.
UF : We collaborated with suppliers in order to procure the different materials needed for the construction of the piece and we consulted by professionals to their field of expertise for the technical and specialized details for the technical characteristics of the light.
UF : Technology was a great asset for the visualization of our idea as well as the materialization of this project.
UF : The motivation for this piece was the exploration of the technique and the properties of the materials so the main part of the research was based on the observation through the experiments. Visual research played a crucial role to the development and the formation of the idea while current trends on design took into consideration during the whole process.
UF : The great interest of the piece is focused on the complexity of the construction. Another tempting factor was that we had to combine the big scale of the object with the function as a light and additionally to embody our idea as a complete artifact .
UF : This competition was a unique opportunity for us to promote our work to the public. It was a chance to get some feedback from people related to industry and evaluate the impact that the piece has to the viewer, aiming possibly to a high ranking since we considered our work as a well thought design and a fine crafted object based on contemporary concerns that could be the starting point for a further discussion and a debate over this issue. Overall this competition was a great experience since it was a considerable collection of a big variety of works from designers of different regions and disciplines and it was likelihood to communicate with them through our work.
UF : This project was a long designing process that we experienced that led us to new discoveries and practiced our technical and design skills. We were very keen on how we communicated as a team and through our interaction we expanded the potentials of the project. We spent many hours of researching, rethinking and revising the various visual elements, patterns and materials, throughout these we developed various ideas and applications of the technique for the further development of the project.
