HagenHinderdael – Cocoon
Cocoon is a 3d printed decorative pendant celebrating craft and pushing the boundaries of new and sustainable technologies by transforming wood waste into an organic, technologically advanced light.
A collaboration between designers HagenHinderdael and 3d printing specialists Forust, Cocoon presents an innovative way to reduce timber waste through rethinking deforestation and the take-and-make production process. From the form through to its materiality and manufacturing, they sought to develop a product that is not only eco-friendly but fully degradable.
The sculptural form of Cocoon has been developed to resemble an organic structure that speaks to the natural materials being used and creates an opportunity for beautiful protrusions to throw shadows of light onto the surrounding surfaces. The shell itself is made of 3d printed sawdust and has been developed in collaboration with Forust, a US-based company that manufactures wood by using methods that are non-destructive to our planet’s ecology. It comes in two typologies each with its own unique shape. Using ground-breaking 3d printing technology, layers of powdered wood are bound together with lignin into a 250mm wide x 460mm high Cocoon. Once out of the printer, each piece is carefully hand-stained and finished. In this process, there is also the opportunity to finish Cocoon in a wide variety of wood species including natural, oak, teak, and walnut.
The shell also serves as a protective cover, embracing and hiding within it an integrated OLED light source. A slimline technology that is easy on the earth, easy on the eyes, and produced from 85% glass with a balance of organic materials and non-toxic metals, the OLED panel sits effortlessly within the cap of the Cocoon light dispersing light uniformly across the pendant with a soft, warm glow at 3000k light temperature.
Cocoon is not only beautiful in its aesthetic but forward-thinking in its lifecycle – able to avoid its materials ending up back in landfill and instead used in future light productions.
“We also believe our light raises awareness on the important social impact of deforestation,” says HagenHinderdael. “Therefore, beyond the waste being recycled in our production, we donate a percentage of each sale to reforestation initiatives.
“Cocoon will make people stop, reconsider, and think beyond the traditions of what is product design to see how new technologies and processes, coupled with the sustainable initiatives of our current environment, have an opportunity to set the trend for the materiality and production of the lighting of the future.”
