We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer about their original and creative design work. is an award-winning creative designer, that makes our world a better place with their original works.
("") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work . Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
: The Tree Pod pendant light has been inspired by the mighty Baobab tree, symbol of life and prosperity growing in 32 countries across the African continent and at the hearth of many stories and traditions.
: The Tree Pod is the materialization of the company philosophy that envisions humans and nature living alongside in a technological world. Light is the vital force that brings human-made structures to life, the slight imperfections inherent in any material harvested from nature just empower and transform it in a unique way. The pods from the Tree Of Life are the symbols of its magic and we want to bring a piece of this "Life"into the houses in the form of nature and light.
: We want take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen the company visibility and reputation.
: The project started in May 2015 in Kenya, with a three month research period. After other three months of experiments with materials and structural shapes we finally reach the production of our first prototype in July 2016.
: We have always been fascinated by light design and The Tree Pod is a result of our sole inspiration though the energy to setup a production line has been driven by the excitement for the invitation to exhibit our works in the Afrika Handmade Gallery 2016 held at the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi.
: We are a "Design and Build" company and though this definition come from the building industry, we literally do this. We design and produce our own objects. In the future we will need to collaborate with other companies for some specific technical aspect like the electrical engineering of the lamps.
: We look at nature as a source of inspiration for our designs and as a source of raw materials ready to be upcycled and reshaped to fit unexpected new purposes. We decided to bridge the gap between two apparently opposite worlds: what if nature can give us the perfect sustainable solution to the environmental issues at the base of mass produced contemporary design?
: From shelters to food, Nature has always given us everything we need to sustain our lives. In some rural tribes outside of the western civilized society people are still nowadays relying on natural prime materials for the production of rudimental tools and objects of daily use. We are mesmerized by their craft skills and by the beauty of vernacular native design.
: Target customers are young professionals interested in sustainable design and natural materials. The Tree Pod is suitable for apartments, offices, hotels and restaurants.
: Everything in nature is a result of millions of years of evolution, which shaped its forms in a perfect balance of functional and aesthetic values. The shell of the lampshade is harvested directly from the Baobab tree and upcycled with minimal handmade interventions, this reduce enormously the impact of our product on the environment. We combine the primitive shapes of the Baobab pods with hand crafted wood pieces and a minimal amount of industrialized components.
: For our first exhibition at the Africa Handmade Gallery 2016 the 30 lampshade we installed were intended to resemble the fruits/pods hanging from a Baobab Tree.
: Hands, pencils and paper for the concept sketches and working drawings. Simple handmade techniques and materials are at the core of our production line.
: The slight imperfections inherent in any material directly harvested from nature just empower and transform it in a unique way.
: The prototype has been designed and produced by us. For the production line the Baobab pods are harvested, cleaned and cut to shape by our local community workers. The cleaned raw shells are then further refined and assembled in our workshop where we're also training young talented locals. Some of the components of the lamps are outsourced to local companies.
: Technology is playing a marginal role in this particular design, the only industrialized components are the electrical fittings. The Pod is still evolving to integrate more hi-tech and sophisticated components.
: We made several tests to understand the strength and structural limitation of the material and we conducted some researches to find the most suitable natural technique to preserve and enhance it.
: One of the most challenging stages of the design process was to understand how to seamlessly integrate a totally natural and randomly shaped object with mass produced standard electrical fittings.
: We wanted to test if our ideas were suitable for a larger audience.
: We learn the importance of sharing knowledge and establish a good network in different professional areas.
