Oct 21, 2017 | By Tess
Plumen, a UK-based lamp and lighting company, has teamed up with designer and engineer Hook Phanthasuporn to develop a series of 3D printed hanging lampshades. Called “Ruche,” the 3D printed lampshade collection was inspired by forms and shapes found in nature.
Plumen has gained a fair amount of attention in recent years, largely for its innovative designs and structures for low-energy light bulbs. In addition to its eye-grabbing light bulb designs, the company has also been developing and marketing some pretty neat lampshades and pendants—some of which are 3D printed.
In 2015, for instance, the UK company featured a 3D printed lampshade named Kayan which was designed in collaboration with Italian 3D printing startup Formaliz3d. Now, we’re happy to announce that Plumen has unveiled its latest 3D printed lamp wear: Ruche.
According to the company, the shades’ forms were inspired by elements from the natural world of plants: “something that looks like it could have grown from a seed. Something that looks familiar yet would be impossible to create in any other way than through the 3D printing technique,” it says.
Notably, the lamps’ structures were cleverly designed to reveal the shape of the Plumen light bulbs underneath them.
The company describe’s the lamp collection saying: “Ruche is made up of repeating strips that, like leaf forms, flow from youthful tips to mature, fanned out fins. These fins cut across each other in an impossible configuration that still… feel harmonious and natural.”
The fanning out of the forms was deliberately done to both allow for a larger volume of the shade and to gradually reveal the bulb inside of it. The collection consists of shades in three different sizes, each one built to accommodate a range of the company’s energy efficient light bulbs.
“Viewed from above, the bulb is barely visible but like the opening of a flower, the beauty of the bulb is gradually revealed as the eye moves down the shade,” the company adds. “Slips of light escape like rays of sun through trees, while the open base allows the brightness of the bulb to fully illuminate the surface below.”
Working with 3D printing has not only allowed Plumen to explore innovative design potentials for its lighting fixtures, but has also enabled it to follow a made-to-order ethos which is in line with its low-energy consumption philosophy.
Furthermore, the lampshade is 3D printed from biodegradable PLA material and clients can choose to have their Ruche shade made from a recycled filament. By utilizing local 3D printing services, Plumen is also hoping to help cut back on shipping-related pollution.
The Ruche lampshades, which are available to order in a range of different colors (including glow in the dark!) range in price between £150 and £200 (depending on the size of shade). You can shop the collection here.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- French woman suffering from gunshot wound receives 3D printed 'reverse shoulder prosthesis'
- Modern Meadow reveals its pioneering 3D bio-printed leather, Zoa
- 3D printed blood vessels could be key to sustaining lab-grown tissue
- Michigan engineers design open source 3D printed rotating lab mixer
- Conference in Tallinn addresses future effects of 3D printing on world of employment
- 3D-printed, remora-inspired robot can cling to shark skin underwater thanks to ultrastrong sucker
- Renishaw's 3D printed skull implants now post-processed 80% faster thanks to Rösler tech
- German scientists using ViscoTec print heads to 3D print multi-material electric motor parts
- 3D printing a nova: scientists recreate binary star system explosion in 3D
- Anouk Wipprecht & 'bionic pop artist' Viktoria Modesta teams up to create 3D printed interactive sonic wearables
Not at those prices they don't, what they want is to gouge the public!
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
