Swirl Lighting by Kazoo Design

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

KD : We wanted to see if we could use a food decorational element as a functional household object and specifically a lamp.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

KD : We wanted to make a lamp that would not only produce nice lighting but would also be charming to look at and would put a smile on someone’s face.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

KD : We would like to make different versions using different coloring techniques.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

KD : The protoype took a few days to be completed. Most of the time spent went into all the different versions of the molds we had to make when we shifted its’ production to acrylic resins from ceramics.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

KD : The project was an idea that came to mind and turned into a final product.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

KD : We’re in the process of producing different colour variations. In the future, if we decide to go with another material we may consider working with another producer.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

KD : We wanted to get into designing lamps and we wanted our first lamp to have a funky, minimal but also edgy character.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

KD : None we can think of.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

KD : People who like unique pendants.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

KD : The swirl is referring to the nature of the object’s rhythm from base to tip.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

KD : Softimage for designing the object as well as the molds and Zbrush for creating booleans.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

KD : We like how the lamp hat flows into the brass tip.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

KD : The first versions we released were made out of ceramics so we worked with some local craftsmen/producers for the molds and the copies. Since we shifted the production to acrylic resins we designed and made the molds for them as well as produced the copies ourselves.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

KD : The object and its’ mold were designed digitally and were then 3d printed.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

KD : The biggest challenge was figuring out how to make a shelled object using acrylic resins.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

KD : We decided to see what an international board of judges would think about this design.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

KD : We strengthened our mold making skills and learnt many new methods for creating shelled objects with acrylic resins.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

KD : A few months after releasing the swirl lamp, we created its’ complementary partner, this time using convex profile curves instead of the concave ones found in first one.