Modern Film Slide Lampshade (Opposite Upcycle Aesthetic)

(featured image generated by DALL-E AI)

My upcycle project is strongly rooted in the past lives of the objects I’m using. The film slides I acquired date back as far as the 1950s. To me, the older they are, the better. The aesthetic focuses heavily on the nostalgic feeling these photos evoke, as each one holds a unique, meaningful story. This is what I particularly love about this aesthetic, nostalgic ephemera, which is why I wouldn’t even consider creating my project in an opposing style. However, it’s useful to imagine what it would look like and how different it could really be. The AI-generated image above is not the best representation of a super modern film slide lamp, but it helps to see it fully imagined.

(Etsy listing for film slide mounts)

First, my film slide lamp is fundamentally built around the film slides themselves. To shift the aesthetic entirely, I might design a very modern, clean, and minimalistic lampshade. To retain the aspect of the film slides, I could consider making my own slides without any photos. I would purchase the simplest film slide mounts, with no logos or colors, to fit the sleek modern aesthetic. For my actual project, I specifically chose slides with very interesting frames because I thought they would make for a more colorful and engaging layout.

(Amazon link for gray lighting gels)

For the “film” to put in the frames, I wouldn’t take photos or use actual film. Instead, I would use solid-colored acetate, potentially even just gray or neutral tones in every slide. Replacing the meaningful images with solid colors makes a different artistic statement than what I want to convey. To get a bit philosophical, it might suggest that whatever images were there hold no meaning. It would create an almost eerie feeling seeing the blank film, rather than the cozy feeling I intend to nurture with a wide variety of interesting photos.

(sketch of how tape joining would look)

I would opt for a cooler light bulb, potentially even a color-changing LED. I would look for a sleek, ideally white or black, lamp base with simple, straight lines to match the modern aesthetic. Another big question is how I would join the slides together. In my original project, I am joining the slides by punching holes in their edges and using jump rings to emphasize the connection points because that complements the handmade, reused aesthetic. For this hypothetical modern version, I would try to hide the connection points a bit more. I might consider using a straight tape of some sort so the lampshade feels less like a chain and more like a curtain. I wouldn’t care as much about damaging the slides in the process since they hold no historical or personal meaning beyond the project itself.

(sketches of how the two lamps compare)

Overall, creating a film slide lamp in an opposite aesthetic would be easier emotionally because of my loose connection to the slides, compared to using actual photos from the 1900s. It would also be a quicker process to assemble, since the tape method wouldn’t take as long as drilling holes and attaching jump rings. I would have to think more about the meaning of the piece, since I would be creating all of it from scratch, rather than letting the photos speak for themselves and carry their own significance. I personally dislike the super modern aesthetic, so I don’t plan on changing my project in any way. There’s a reason I chose the aesthetic I did.