What?

My final project is a contemporary desk lamp. I wanted to create a small lamp that would would blend in well with my furniture, which is mostly contemporary and constructed of wood. Inspirations

My inspirations for this project were the contemporary and mid-century modern aesthetics. These aesthetics prioritize minimalism while still keeping some of the more “cozy” and “soft” aspects of design, such as warmer tones and rounded edges. I was also interested in incorporating some elements of scandinavian design in my surface finish and material choice. Many products from scandinavian brands show off the source material, usually wood, through using complementary finishing techniques such as varnish or the fineness of the surface finish. For my project, I wanted to have aspects from these three aesthetics.

Plans

I planned to construct the lamp out of scrap wood stock. After my first design preview, I decided to use raw wood instead of MDF or plywood, so that I could use varnish to emphasize the grain of the wood and add to my target aesthetics. I also planned to use a cheap LED light strip I could cut to the needed length for my light source. Below are my initial plans and materials:

• Mainly made of wood
• Cutout for LED strip
• Sturdy base
• 15cm x 20cm base
• 20cm x 3.5cm top and middle
• Materials:
  • LED strips
  • Wood stock
  • Idea Forge wood shop

Complications

One of the main complications I had was constructing the articulating joints. I decided to instead go for fixed joints at an angle of 135 degrees, as this angle proved the most effective for lighting, and also the most visually appealing. Another complication I had was creating accurate drawings for the wood shop, as I hadn’t worked with wood as an engineering material before.

Progress

Currently, my wood is cut into the correct pieces and needs to be assembled with wood glue. The LED strip also needs to be glued in. Finally, everything needs to be secured together with wood glue. Cutting the wood to the right shape and size was the most difficult part, however, so that is completed.

Specifications

• Specifications
  • Wood
  • Variable light settings
  • Stable

Constraints

• Constraints
  • Compact
  • Durable
  • Energy Efficient
  • Light-weight
  • Simple electronics