Glass is Tomorrow exhibition visits Sweden
(Sweden) - Nationalmuseum Design Stockholm to host fourth exhibition of Glass is Tomorrow - running until 23 August - following appearances at Istanbul Design Biennial, Biennale International Design Saint-Etienne and Milan Design Week, with Nude Glass.
The exhibition will feature a selection of pieces from six workshops presented thematically with around 300 glass prototypes from over 60 designers and glassblowers from around Europe, including British designer Benjamin Hubert. Hubert also featured in our latest issue with regards to his involvement in Glass is Tomorrow during Milan Design Week.
The exhibition has also been expanded to include unique pieces by ten Stockholm-based glass designers who have a connection to the city: Esmé Alexander, Anna Berglund, Frida Fjellman, Ulla Forsell, Gunilla Kihlgren, Simon Klenell, Matilda Kästel, Sara Lundkvist, Fredrik Nielsen and Karin Törnell.
Tyson Lighting opens Manchester showroom
(UK) – Tyson Lighting chooses Manchester for first dedicated lighting design practice and contract showroom following expansion of manufacturing facilities.
Tyson Lighting specialises in the design, manufacture, supply and project management of traditional, bespoke and contemporary lighting. The Manchester design office and showroom opens this summer as a hub for designers, architects and specifiers to explore the ranges of Tyson's two international brand partners, VISO and Luceplan as well as Tyson’s own bespoke lighting design.
The team consists of several lighting designers including Luke Artingstall, who recently joined to head the Tyson Lighting Design team. Rachel Cowgill joins Luke in the brand team as Brand Ambassador, working with existing Brand Manager Natalie Hart.
Cowgill was previously a solicitor in the commercial team at Gateley's Manchester office. Cowgill commented: "Joining Tyson Lighting will involve absorbing myself in a new and much more creative industry and I am ready to take on the challenge. The new Manchester brand team are enthusiastic and passionate about what they do and it's a very exciting time to be joining them."
The showroom will be located close to one of Tyson Lighting’s most recent projects, Tattu Restaurant and Bar in Spinningfields. Tyson Lighting oversaw the supply and fabrication of over 70 pieces of bespoke and technical lighting for the new body-art inspired Dim Sum restaurant and bar including iconic over-sized anchors wrapped in rope and flowers, fitted with halogen golf balls hanging in the main bar.
Managing Director, Andrew Gibson, commented: "The new Manchester showroom opening is the next phase in the company’s expansion and also the logical step in our holistic approach to lighting. We chose Granada Studios because it's synonymous with creativity and giving individuals an opportunity to express themselves. The new space will allow us to showcase innovative and exciting products such as lighting brands VISO and Luceplan, which we believe will really help expand their presence here in the UK.”
The Manchester showroom and design office will be open plan to encourage collaboration. Gibson said: "We want to provide the design and lighting industries with a truly interactive office space that will cater for some of the most pioneering opinion formers to host talks, seminars and cultivate the creative process. We also want our showroom to be used as a hub for product launch events and staff training so that our specifiers can buy into the concept of our brand partners and understand their key messages."
The opening of the showroom follows on from expansion of the company's Blackburn manufacturing facility in the past six months, which has seen the size of its combined works area more than double to meet recent demand. The firm has also invested in three welders, a bending machine and de-greasing and metal finishing equipment.
The expansion saw five new staff members appointed including two bespoke lighting manufacturers, a specialist painter and two trainees who will work within the wiring department. Gibson said: "I'm a huge fan of releasing eager young energy into an established department and allowing their enthusiasm to be embraced. When you treat young people with that level of respect, you get outstanding results in terms of work rate, quality of work and job satisfaction for all involved.
“Tyson Lighting Design is able to deliver projects across a range of sectors including commercial office design, hospitality, historical, light art, external feature lighting and public realm schemes, with the opening of the new studio attracting Manchester lighting designer Artingstall.
"Artingstall has worked on prestigious and award-winning lighting projects across the UK and his vast experience will allow us to not only compete for the best and most exciting projects in the industry, but help strengthen and build new client relationships within the international design industry."
Speaking on the reasons behind the recent expansion of the firm's manufacturing facility, Gibson said: "We were always a true lighting company in our very foundation with technical workshop personnel being able to change the light sources of existing fittings, bolt and build components together and create unique light fittings from sketches utilising external fabricators and metal workers.
The decision to increase skill level in Tyson’s workforce to handle in-house production has been beneficial and has improved other areas where needed to accommodate the new demand for Tyson's enhanced quality product. Gibson and fellow directors re-invested in SAGE 200, which has allowed for a more agile, traceable and scalable business strategy. Gibson commented: "It was a big change management project but we carried it through and it has really lifted us up another level and given us the ability to run many more projects simultaneously."
The firm successfully applied for a growth grant to help subsidise a new paint facility as well as SolidWorks Professional 3d modelling software to enhance its design process. This led to the expansion of Tyson's production facility and extension of existing mezzanine.
"It's an exciting time for a company such as ours to be in Manchester and, with a number of progressive and forward-thinking developments planned for Spinningfields, we really will be in ‘ the eye of the storm’,” concluded Gibson. "We believe having a presence in Manchester will give us the very best opportunity to expand our contact network and project portfolio."
Pandanas
Jan Flook has launched the third pendant light launch in his 2015 Lighting Collection. Aiming to create a feature light that also functions as a task light, Flook was inspired by Australia’s tropical Pandanas plant in creating the Pandanas pendant, a task light with ambient flavour in a blend of retro-industrial style and modern technology.
His sculptural negative-space design echoes the patterns of light and shade cast by Pandanas’ long leaves in tropical environments. The Pandanas pendant is created from two separate anodized aluminium spinnings, or shades, which are held apart. The outer shade has a classical shape measuring 430mm, which is pierced with a 3D laser-cut pattern inspired by the tropical leaves. The inner shade, hanging just below the outer one, acts as a reflector to bounce and amplify the light from its highly reflexive outer surface. The light sourced from the single PL warm white fluorescent lamps preads, glows and creates reflection.
The lamp also contains an element of flexibility, in that the tone of the light can be altered according to time of day or mood, by inserting a theatrical colour gel into a vertical tube in the gap between the two diffusers, adding enormous design flexibility to suit multiple environments and sectors.
Ideal for café workstations or centrepieces, the Pandanas can also be hung in rows on a dimmer system. Flook commented: “I think it’s good to remind people of these plants. They make a rustling sound when the wind blows through them.”
Mimosa Collection
Inspired by neurons, Aqua Creation's Mimosa Collection is contemporary and expresses subtlety and lightness while keeping its organic shape. The shades are made from a laser cut, galvanized metal structure sprayed with clear polymer, resulting in a white membrane that perfectly distributes the light. The shades are sculpted by hand allowing variations to occur from shade to shade. As a collection, the Mimosa is highly customizable and can be adapted to fit spaces of any size. The collection includes a floor lamp with a concrete base, a one-metre pendant version and a lighter flat pendant lamp.
Intense
Intense is full of movement and can be positioned according to taste, making each piece unique. The crystals being the main feature of the chandelier, Intense is an elegance product and the chandelier provides the décor with a richness.
Enna
Enna is a fully adjustable reading lamp deeply recessed to prevent glare. With a warm white colour temperature of 2,700K, Enna is made from steel with finish options of white, black and matte gold, making it a versatile product ready to suit any interior.
Lean On Me
Designed to sit on a shelf to support books, form and function meet in the lamp’s British and Nordic style with a passion for glass, metal and textiles. With this infusion of lighting and glass, the curved metal shapes reflect the light from the lamp, bringing a warm vintage look with a modern take.
Barber For Life
In collaboration with artist Quyen Dinh, Barber For Life is hand crafted from a slim gauge mild steel, lit by 28 Edison style bulbs. It can be dimmed and inked with a special composition for an evocative effect, to be displayed at Stand AL2 during May Design Series.
Flara Lamp
Inspired by the colour and incongruous postures seen in birdlife in Africa, the Bird Leg lamps are handcrafted using classic and modern techniques that animate spaces and inject personality into interior schemes. The range includes Runner Ducks, African Jacana Legs, Flamingo Legs and Ostrich Legs in a variety of colours and textures, with bespoke shades also available.
Yoyo
The Yoyo, available in many bright and refreshing colours, provides a centre piece for any room. Made from acoustic foam, the Yoyo is one of many design objects available within the acoshape+ range of lighting, designed and developed to give optimum lighting and acoustic absorption.
Alchemist Collection
First-time exhibitor The Light Yard works with independent designers from the UK and abroad. The Alchemist Collection is a new range of vintage style lighting for the hospitality industry created by British lighting designer Gwyn Carless.
Frequency
Haberdashery collaborated with photographer Julian Abrams to create the Frequency collection, exploring the relationship between surface, reflection and geometry when carefully programmed LED light is gently modulated through time. Abrams captured unique moments created by each of the sculptures, creating frozen impressions of colour and geometry.
Represented by the Serena Morton Gallery in London, the sculptures all explore lighting principles that can be scaled up into larger bespoke commissions for clients and collectors, as stand alone work, or as larger interventions within the architecture itself in vaulted ceilings and wall recesses.
Haberdashery is launching its new product division at the May Design Series (stand L232), and the team looks forward to showing visitors their roots in light art and light sculpture that have led the company to be a leading studio for exploration in intersection between art, design and technology communicated through light.
