Rhythm of light

source: designboom

‘the rhythm of light’, designed by susanne de graef the ‘rhythm of light’ lamp, created by dutch designer susanne de graef, references the cyclical rhythm of time, while its colour and movement draw attention to the dynamic, living properties of light.
five concentric aluminum rings form the skeleton of the lamp.
through each of these are threaded hundreds of multicoloured strings, spaced slightly apart from one another.
‘the user decides the rhythm of the lamp,’ de graef explains, by moving the rings up and down, allowing the colours and lines of the layers to mingle and diffuse the light.
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source: frameweb

Dutch designer Susanne de Graef has a knack of succinctly sparking the viewer’s emotions with her light and poetic creations. This is the very essence of her illuminating Rhythm of Light project, a lamp that mimics the movement of the sun. Soon, viewers can once again be enchanted by this product when it is presented in Amsterdam later this month.
The rainbow-hued chandelier is temptingly tactile, with its looping threads and slow, elegant movements. It enchants with its grace – perhaps not so surprising, then, to discover that the lamp’s shape was inspired by classical lighting at the Palace of Versailles.
Designed to mimic the sun’s movements, as it rises and sets each day, the lamp’s rings can be drawn up or down by means of a counterweight that hangs from it, thus allowing constant variety in the chandieler’s form and appearance. The fine threads – more than 180 to each ring – subtly display the full spectrum of the rainbow, which emphasises the fact that light is composed of colours. The delicate and poetic movement of the rings allows the diffuse light coming from the singular bulb to be scattered, creating a lively interplay of light and shadow.
Having intrigued viewers since it first came to light as a student project during de Graef’s time at Design Academy Eindhoven (she graduated in 2010), work began with the French design label La Chance in 2012 to produce an alternative version of the lamp. Now, the Rhythm of Light undergoing somewhat of a new transformation. But that is all top secret for the moment, with the development of this project being kept under wraps until its launch at Dutch Design Week in October.
For now we can relish in the lamp’s graceful movements and its rhythm of stance and stanza – poeticaly described by the designer below:
A day begins,
the sun rises.
The sun starts her daily rhythm,
she rises and she sets,
This is a never-ending story with
a beginning and an end,
it repeats itself every day.
The light we use in our houses is very static,
almost like it’s something that’s frozen,
But light is not something that is static,
it lives.
Light is movement,
it has its own rhythm.
I designed a lamp with its own rhythm.
The user decides the rhythm of the lamp by
moving the lamp up and down,
the layers mingle,
the light gets diffuse and the layers turn into
a game of colours.
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source: susannedegraefnl
Susanne de Graef, graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven in May 2010,
designs in an intuitive way.
She’s fascinated by concepts like light,
movement , and the circle of life.
Driven by her fantasy she tries to understand the essence of things,
she let herself get inspired by this knowledge,
and translates this into form and material.
A product becomes an experience,
it comes to life.
Her work starts on a poetic base,
but the translation in to form ends technical.
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source: susannedegraefnl
In de vooroorlogse huizen was de werkwijze
en de inrichting afgestemd op de hoeveelheid licht dat via de kleine raampjes naar binnen trad.
In de hedendaagse woningen is alles meer verspreidt over een grotere oppervlakte en door de grote hoeveelheid licht dat binnenvalt via de grote, hoge ramen.
De fotograaf Bert Teunissen
en zijn Domestic Landscapes heeft dit gegeven perfect weten vast te leggen in zijn fotoreportages.
Dit meubel is geïnspireerd op deze fotoreportage
waarin getracht is hetzelfde gevoel te bereiken als
in de huizen van die tijd, maar getransformeerd tot een meubelstuk voor de hedendaagse tijd.
Het is een soort ruimte in een ruimte waarin je jezelf kunt afschermen.
Je bent omringd door al je dierbare kostbaarheden
die je ook dicht bij je hebt.