Dezeen Showroom: Hungarian designer Zsuzsanna Horvath uses laser-cut birch plywood to make the Illan Pendant Light for Italian light company Luceplan.
Horvath piqued Luceplan's interest when she displayed a prototype of her design at Salone Satellite during last year's edition of Milan Furniture Fair.
Illan means something temporary or fleeting in Hungarian, a concept Horvath sought to capture in the simple and delicate design.
Precise laser-cutting technology is used to score equidistant lines through a thin sheet of plywood.
When hung from above, the wood drops into the lampshade's distinctive curved shape.
"The idea of the lamp comes from experimentation with models of laser cutting applied to different materials," explained Horvath.
"When sheets of paper and wood are cut geometrically, they take on new characteristics, suspended by the force of gravity."
A warm-toned LED light sits inside the shade, leaking through the slats to create a golden, diffused light.
"The simple concentric cutting motif shapes wood into a three-dimensional sculptural object that reacts to the slightest movement of the air, while the warm glow of the light creates a relaxing sensation, reflecting on the wooden surface," said Horvath.
"The lamp is on the borderline between art and design, balancing functional quality, good looks and a bit of the magic we need in our everyday life," added the designer.
Available in three versions, the Illan Pendant Light can be up to a metre wide. It is suitable to hang as a single piece or in a cluster of different sizes.
Horvath is a Hungarian designer and architect based in Copenhagen, where she runs her own studio.
The Illan Pendant Light is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the lighting design category, alongside a bedside lamp that reads to children and a glowing ring light that can rotate 320 degrees.
More examples of plywood design include these laser-cut plywood lamps by Italian studio Bjørne and a modular lighting collection made from aluminium and plywood by London-based designers Tino Seubert and Theodora Alfredsdottir.
Product: Illan Pendant Light
Designer: Zsuzsanna Horvath
Brand: Luceplan
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