Qubique 2011: Tel Aviv designer Nir Meiri uses desert sand to create these tactile moulded lights. 

The shades are made by pouring sand into a glue-covered mould, creating a thin, rigid layer when the glue has set.

When the LED light source is turned on the grainy pattern is illuminated, casting a warm light and highlighting the raw nature of the material.

The form of the shade was designed to resemble primitive desert structures.

The lights can be produced in different configurations including floor-standing and tabletop versions.

Photography is by Shay ben efrayim.

Here is some more information from the designer:

This project is inspired by sand.

The shape of the sand-molded lamp shades brings to mind primitive dessert structures, while the fixture’s overall figure resembles that of plants that blossom in the Mediterranean seashore.

The use of sand as the main material plays on the tension between its wild nature – that of sand storms and vast desserts– and the delicacy of the molded end design.

Despite their apparent fragility, the bulbs are sturdy, and their strength partners with that of the fixture’s metal pole.

Once the LED lamp is lit, it spreads a soft light, which accentuates the amorphous shapes still present on lamp shade’s surface, reminding us of the sand’s original untamed nature.