Extra Moooi: Japanese designer Arihiro Miyake explains how he reinterpreted the traditional chandelier using steel wire and dozens of LEDs in our next movie for Dutch brand Moooi.
Miyake's Coppélia light for Moooi is a three-tiered wire-frame chandelier. It comprises a polished stainless-steel frame, which supports 54 LED lights housed in polycarbonate tubes.
The lights on the chandelier are powered by a low voltage current that runs through the metal frame without the need for any additional wires.
Miyake says this approach would not have been possible with traditional incandescent bulbs, which require a much higher voltage.
"I wanted to create lamp that you can only create with LEDs," he explains in the movie, which was filmed at Moooi's Unexpected Welcome show in Milan last year where Coppélia was unveiled.
"Each LED is connected by two wires – one is positive and one is negative – and these wires create the structure and the shape of the lamp itself."
While Coppélia makes use of the benefits of modern LED technology, Miyake says he wanted to reference a traditional chandelier with the form of the lamp.
"I believe there should be some communication in design," he explains. "Even if it is technical, it should be translated to the language that most people can understand and appreciate."
Miyake chose to taper the polycarbonate tubes housing the LEDs, rather than making them perfect cylinders, to reference the shape of wax candles.
"Each LED tapers upwards, which reminds me of these old types of candles," he says.
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"The middle cone [of the frame] has the taper as well, repeating the detail of the LED pieces."
This movie was filmed at Moooi's Milan show in 2015. The music featured is a track called Aglow by US artist RyIm.
The movie is part of our year-long Extra Moooi collaboration, which sees us working with Moooi in Milan, New York, London and Amsterdam to get under the skin of the brand, its products and designers. Read all the stories at dezeen.com/moooi.