SEAWEED LAMPS! Julia Lohmann’s Kelp Constructs
Posted By Antonia Halse On May 1, 2008 @ 4:07 am In Milan Furniture Fair,Sustainable Materials | 2 Comments
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We are enchanted by Kelp Constructs [5], the new work from UK-based designer Julia Lohmann [6] who has been experimenting with kelp, and exploring its potential as a sustainable material. Following an artistic residency [7] at S-AIR [8] in Sapporo Japan, Lohmann was in Milan this year conducting the Kelp Constructs workshop [9] at the Nilufar Gallery [10]. The final products, a collection of wonderfully tactile lighting designs, were on display during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile [11], bringing this rapidly renewable material into a new design realm.
Famed for it’s spectacular growth rate of up to a meter a day, kelp can be harvested sustainably. It’s dense underwater forests are recognized as one of the world’s most dynamic and productive ecosystems. For Constructs, Lohmann traveled to Ireland to meet with a diver from the Irish Seaweed Centre [12] and returned with a suitcase packed full of kelp, and also sourced a supply from Sapporo, Japan.
In Milan, visitors were encouraged to touch the material at the workshop in it’s various stages of transformation – dried, re-hydrated, varnished and un-varnished – with the finished products varying dramatically. Lohmann will be repeating the Kelp Constructs workshop at the Grand Designs [13] show next week, as part of Icon Experiment [14], allowing visitors to follow the whole design process of soaking and wrapping the kelp into shape.
+ Julia Lohmann [6]
+ MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2008 [11]
+ Kelp Constructs video @ Core77 [9]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/lamps-made-from-seaweed-julia-lohmanns-kelp-constructs/
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[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/lamps-made-from-seaweed-julia-lohmanns-kelp-constructs/
[4] Image: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/05/01/lamps-made-from-seaweed-julia-lohmanns-kelp-constructs/
[5] Kelp Constructs: http://www.julialohmann.co.uk/news/
[6] Julia Lohmann: http://julialohmann.co.uk/
[7] residency: http://www.s-air.org/app/index.html
[8] S-AIR: http://www.s-air.org/
[9] Kelp Constructs workshop: http://www.core77.com/blog/broadcasts/core77_driveby_footage_milan_2008_julia_lohmann_9517.asp
[10] Nilufar Gallery: http://www.nilufar.com
[11] Salone Internazionale del Mobile: http://www.inhabitat.com/category/milan-furniture-fair/
[12] Irish Seaweed Centre: http://www.irishseaweed.com/
[13] Grand Designs: http://www.granddesignslive.com/detail.php?page=422&s=16
[14] Icon Experiment: http://www.iconexperiment.co.uk/
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