We had to bite our tongues for sooo long and keep this project under wraps...
But the day has come: We can finally proudly present to you the Wren and Kiwi lightshades we designed for Dutch lighting brand Ay Illuminate.

Over the past two Years, we've been working together with the lovely people from eco- and socially conscious label Ay Illuminate to design a lightshade that would not only be sustainable and reparable, but would also be suitable for production at a social workplace in the Netherlands.

Our workshop is filled with the models and prototypes we made during the different stages of the design and product development proces.

Our brief was simple, yet challenging: design a lamp that is made of sustainable, preferably recycled materials and take into account it has to be produced in the Netherlands by people working at a sheltered work environment.
And of course it has to fit in with the Ay Illuminate collection, best known for its tropical natural feel and artisan craft production methods.

After exploring several material options we came across Luxaflex: the horizontal aluminum window slats are often discarded from office buildings and can be found in many thriftstores.

we quickly figured out that to set up a continuous production of lamps, it's impossible to rely on discarded window dressings.
​When we studied into the aluminum slats a bit more, we discovered they are in fact made of 98% recycled aluminum. A great material to put to use in a new product. ​

Unfortunately it turned out to be quite an adventure to get the aluminum slats we needed on a lengthy roll. 

By stubbornly e-mailing, calling, e-mailing again, calling again for many months by Thomas, we finally got through to the right people and received the right material to produce our prototypes with.

(Unfortunately we pretty much had to go through the same ordeal to get the material for production.)

And thus began the final puzzle: we designed frames in different shapes, with the slats running over them, through them, under them. We let the slats travel back up for a nice finish and layered look, used our Solidworks skills to pretty much draw out every silhouette we could think of. 

We tried all kinds of different metal thingies (by lack of a better word) to secure the aluminum bands without glue or fasteners and went through lengths getting the right size delivered. 

We designed the frame as a flat pack kit, clicking into eachother as a puzzle. Happy to be working together with the lovely people from Samosa Nijmegen for excellent and fast lasercutting.

We used 6 mm poplar multiplex, tried 5 mm and went back to 6 mm Ecoplex when the final 5 mm testpiece came out wobbly.

So many little things were adjusted and tweaked before the Wren and Kiwi were finally deemed fit for production.

Thomas spent quite a few days at the Tomin Group deliberating and explaning the way the lamps should be finished and assembled.

These next few days the Wren and Kiwi lamps will be on display during Maison & Objet in Paris. 
For this special occasion they will be joined by their larger sibling, the Wren XL.
We installed the XL in our living room a few weeks ago to test te effect, and its impressive size dwarfed quite a few of our pieces of furniture.

After all our hard work, we're excited about the launch of the lamps in Paris and will be at the fair to see them with our own eyes this Saturday.

Come say hi if you're at Maison et Objet this weekend, we'd love to see you!
Ay Illuminate can be found in Hall 5A, R54/S53

Want to know more about the wren en Kiwi lamps?
Practical information and a link to Ay Illuminate can be found in the product description:

Fleur Magazine is the Belgian professional florists journal and is packed with great advice for anyone running a florist shop as well as pages filled with inspiration, new designs and background information about plants and flowers.

Personally i was pretty impressed with the overall look of the magazine and the articles, that are fun and interesting to read, even for non-florist me.
​
I love how the magazine provides the floral entrepreneurs with hooks and stories that can help sell more flowers and plants.

We are over the moon to be featured in this lovely publication with not only one, but two products. Check it out!
When clicked, the images should enlarge in a lightbox so you can read the actual (Dutch) text. 

Last year in January we were high on anticipation about starting the Driving Dutch Design masterclasses.
​
Fast forward 12 months, and we're proud DDD graduates.
It has been a super intense yet super fun experience during which we met so many wonderful people.

And it aint over yet!
The Driving Dutch Design 'graduation exhibition' from Dutch Design Week 2018 is now travelling and will be on display in Eindhoven at Yksi expo from now until March 31st.

So go check that out if you're in the neighbourhood. No entrance fee, the best coffee and designer gifts to be shopped!​

Yksi Expo
1/10/2019 - 3/31/2019

Torenallee 22-04 (Strijp S)
5617 BD Eindhoven

​Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 - 17:30

A week into the New Year and i'm so happy to be back in normal mode.
Don't get me wrong, i love the Holidays, and had been looking forward to the festive season since summer ended.
Yet after months of anticipation followed with weeks of joyfilled familytime, social calls and everything being so very special, getting back into the routines of the day-to-day feels so very refreshing.

Getting back to it, also means 'getting on with it'.
And i love what we'll be doing the coming months.

We already told you about our participation in Object Rotterdam in February.
We'll also be at the Tuin Idee gardening themed expo later that month in Den Bosch.
And to top it up the Driving Dutch Design DDW expo has traveled to Yksi Expo for the coming months.

But what we're most excited about this month, is the launch of the Wren & Kiwi lamps that we designed for socially conscious lighting label Ay Illuminate.

10 Days to go before the sustainable lamps will premier at Maison & Objet in Paris, and we cant wait to show you what we've been working so hard on the past year.

We didn't just take on the design, but the complete product development, including coordination with and many trips to the social workplace in the Netherlands where the lamps are produced by people with a distance to the job market.

The design is still under embargo for a few more days, but we'll be back with sneak peaks as soon as we can.