SIMPLE CONTRAPTIONS | BOR TABLE LAMP
The intent of this project was to create a series of lighting objects that offered the user an opportunity to alter the experience of a space, and within that, a moment of wonder. In North America, where practices of consumerism and disposability are ubiquitous, we have become conditioned to want new, want better, want things all the time, and too often perfectly functional objects are disposed of because we grow bored. This series of three lights (from top: Bor, Nui and Tedio) are designed to help combat this ennui without having to consume more stuff, harnessing lighting’s immense transformative power within a space.
materials: glass, mild steel
The intent of this project was to create a series of lighting objects that offered the user an opportunity to alter the experience of a space, and within that, a moment of wonder. In North America, where practices of consumerism and disposability are ubiquitous, we have become conditioned to want new, want better, want things all the time, and too often perfectly functional objects are disposed of because we grow bored. This series of three lights (from top: Bor, Nui and Tedio) are designed to help combat this ennui without having to consume more stuff, harnessing lighting’s immense transformative power within a space.
materials: glass, mild steel
SIMPLE CONTRAPTIONS | NUI TABLE LAMP
My goal was and is to design things that people want to keep forever, and that have the quality to endure this lifespan. As these lights took form, I began to reckon with the problem of ensuring that they themselves wouldn’t fall victim to these issues of boredom and disposal, and it became clear that I would have to think deeply about what made people form a durable relationship with an object. For something to just be physically durable, you do not guarantee that it will avoid the landfill, for that objects have to be imbued with a sort of emotional durability, and for me this meant thinking about beauty, wonder, simplicity, visual language, proportion and detailing as well as functionality.
materials: mild steel, acylic
My goal was and is to design things that people want to keep forever, and that have the quality to endure this lifespan. As these lights took form, I began to reckon with the problem of ensuring that they themselves wouldn’t fall victim to these issues of boredom and disposal, and it became clear that I would have to think deeply about what made people form a durable relationship with an object. For something to just be physically durable, you do not guarantee that it will avoid the landfill, for that objects have to be imbued with a sort of emotional durability, and for me this meant thinking about beauty, wonder, simplicity, visual language, proportion and detailing as well as functionality.
materials: mild steel, acylic
SIMPLE CONTRAPTIONS | TEDIO FLOOR LAMP
Thinking about what makes people keep things is also thinking about what makes truly good design. It has to speak to the soul in more than one way to keep us engaged, I think. We should admire its beauty, while needing its function, and like the weight and feel of something, while appreciating the history it references. We should be able to say that it is durable and solid and all the practical things, while relishing the poetry of the light it emits, and the wonder it sparks every time you turn it on. Good design is deeply understandable, it reveals to you the decisions that went into its creation through its form, and simply makes sense as a total and complete object. This is where the title Simple Contraptions originates, from the pursuit of magic through simplicity.
materials: mild steel, recycled dacron sailcloth
Thinking about what makes people keep things is also thinking about what makes truly good design. It has to speak to the soul in more than one way to keep us engaged, I think. We should admire its beauty, while needing its function, and like the weight and feel of something, while appreciating the history it references. We should be able to say that it is durable and solid and all the practical things, while relishing the poetry of the light it emits, and the wonder it sparks every time you turn it on. Good design is deeply understandable, it reveals to you the decisions that went into its creation through its form, and simply makes sense as a total and complete object. This is where the title Simple Contraptions originates, from the pursuit of magic through simplicity.
materials: mild steel, recycled dacron sailcloth
BY THE STEM VASE SERIES
The intent for this project was to design a family of vases that showcased and enhanced the beauty of just a few blooms rather than demanding a full bouquet. Not only are flowers expensive, they also often carry a large carbon footprint, so this series is designed to encourage people be thoughful about how they display and consume these beautiful blooms.
materials: scrap acrylic
The intent for this project was to design a family of vases that showcased and enhanced the beauty of just a few blooms rather than demanding a full bouquet. Not only are flowers expensive, they also often carry a large carbon footprint, so this series is designed to encourage people be thoughful about how they display and consume these beautiful blooms.
materials: scrap acrylic
URBAN CAMPING FURNITURE SET
This project began with the idea of distilling the ritual of a campfire into an indoor/outdoor furniture set that can be used in the city or during a fire ban. Made from locally sourced, sustainably harvested hemlock from Cortes Island, this set of collapsible furniture is designed to honour both the outdoor lifestyle and hostory of the westcoast and the quality and value of our wood products. To this end, these products draw visual queues from outdoor gear and apparel with neon orange details, while processing the wood as though making traditional solid wood furniture, allowing these pieces to be at home in both indoor and outdoor settings.
materials: local hemlock, steel, neon cord
Created with Clyde Montgomery and Claire Ko
This project began with the idea of distilling the ritual of a campfire into an indoor/outdoor furniture set that can be used in the city or during a fire ban. Made from locally sourced, sustainably harvested hemlock from Cortes Island, this set of collapsible furniture is designed to honour both the outdoor lifestyle and hostory of the westcoast and the quality and value of our wood products. To this end, these products draw visual queues from outdoor gear and apparel with neon orange details, while processing the wood as though making traditional solid wood furniture, allowing these pieces to be at home in both indoor and outdoor settings.
materials: local hemlock, steel, neon cord
Created with Clyde Montgomery and Claire Ko
ALTAR CANDLE HOLDER
Based in the development of a new bio-material out of recycled cork, Alter is an object to honour of the ritual of lighting candles in the home. Although cork is a natural and sustainable material, it is often a implemented in single-use applications, with very little recycling or recovery. Thus, in this project we explored the development of a bio-material using recycled wine corks combined with a gelatin-based binding agent. With our naturally heat resistant material in hand, we discovered that combining our material with the warm glow of candlelight highlighted and amplified the best qualities of both.
materials: recycled cork, maplewood, concrete
Created with Roz Khalilzadeh
Based in the development of a new bio-material out of recycled cork, Alter is an object to honour of the ritual of lighting candles in the home. Although cork is a natural and sustainable material, it is often a implemented in single-use applications, with very little recycling or recovery. Thus, in this project we explored the development of a bio-material using recycled wine corks combined with a gelatin-based binding agent. With our naturally heat resistant material in hand, we discovered that combining our material with the warm glow of candlelight highlighted and amplified the best qualities of both.
materials: recycled cork, maplewood, concrete
Created with Roz Khalilzadeh
SPINNAKER LAMP
Drawing on my experiences as a competitive sailor, this lamp’s form references the elegant shape of a spinnaker, the colourful and airy downwind sail. This elegantly rounded lampshade shelters a neon rod, providing adjustable yet bold lighting. To be placed on a side table, desk or trolley, this lamp makes a playful, confident and vibrant statement in any room.
materials: anodized aluminium, neon rod
Drawing on my experiences as a competitive sailor, this lamp’s form references the elegant shape of a spinnaker, the colourful and airy downwind sail. This elegantly rounded lampshade shelters a neon rod, providing adjustable yet bold lighting. To be placed on a side table, desk or trolley, this lamp makes a playful, confident and vibrant statement in any room.
materials: anodized aluminium, neon rod
RGB COFFEE TABLE
The RGB table is an easy-to-produce, easy-to-assemble coffee table designed to help get simple, durable and fun modern design into more homes. This project began with the goal to design a coffee table that could be cut out of a sheet of plywood, flat packed for shippping and then assembled without any hardware, tools or glue. Using simple materials, but treating them with care, this table is designed to become more than the sum of its parts, resulting in a piece of furniture that is both refined and playful.
materials: baltic birch plywood
The RGB table is an easy-to-produce, easy-to-assemble coffee table designed to help get simple, durable and fun modern design into more homes. This project began with the goal to design a coffee table that could be cut out of a sheet of plywood, flat packed for shippping and then assembled without any hardware, tools or glue. Using simple materials, but treating them with care, this table is designed to become more than the sum of its parts, resulting in a piece of furniture that is both refined and playful.
materials: baltic birch plywood
ANTOINETTE GOBLETS
Using the production process of slip casting, these goblets are an exploration of how to transform the humble material of clay into something refined and delicate, akin to the craftmenship of fine venetian glassware. This project is a rejection of stoneware as only a material for flatware and mugs, drawing from the material finesse of porcelain teaware but capitalizing on the inherent strength and predictability of a stoneware clay body to produce an object that subverts the expectations of a ceramic vessel.
materials used: M370 stoneware clay body
Using the production process of slip casting, these goblets are an exploration of how to transform the humble material of clay into something refined and delicate, akin to the craftmenship of fine venetian glassware. This project is a rejection of stoneware as only a material for flatware and mugs, drawing from the material finesse of porcelain teaware but capitalizing on the inherent strength and predictability of a stoneware clay body to produce an object that subverts the expectations of a ceramic vessel.
materials used: M370 stoneware clay body
A N N A H O E L K @ G M A I L . C O M @ A N N A K A H O E L K D E S I G N S