Telling Tales (a collection of illuminated stories), is the name of LZF’s communication campaign for 2016. Its creator, Mariví Calvo wanted to focus on people who inhabit the illuminated spaces and their stories, making the format of the campaign an artistic creation.
ASTERISCO, by Cuatro Cuatros. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
This reinterpretation of the lectern has drawn a lot of attention in the design community. In fact, it has just been awarded the American magazine Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards 2014 , iF Design Award 2015 and was a finalist for both the German Design Awards 2015.
2. CERVANTES, by Burkhard Dämmer
CERVANTES, by Burkhard Dämmer. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Cervantes, by the German designer Burkhard Dämmer for LZF, is offered as a wall/ ceilings and/or a suspension lamp. This new design, in line with the tradition of lattice work, features strips of woodveneer spreading out in all directions, creating a striking concave effect. So what’s the idea behind Burkhard’s new lamp?
“… I wanted to imitate the winding effect of ruffs, the neck ornaments used during the baroque period, often seen in old paintings depicting famous people, such as Miguel de Cervantes himself. The exceptional ability of the wood veneer allows me to mimic the ruff pattern to create a uniquediffuser. To complete the prototype, I chose a circular, embossed luminaire shaped as a concave lens, on which the wood veneer strips rest. An LED system is used as a backlight behind the wooden strips, providing a lamp of ever-changing shades”.
3. DANDELION, by Burkhard Dämmer
DANDELION, by Burkhard Dämmer. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
After a collaboration of more than ten years, Dandelion is Burkhard Dämmer’s latest contribution to LZF.
“…The idea comes from drawings by the German zoologist and philologist Ernst Haeckel. I was struck by the beauty of the symmetrical and geometric shapes from Kunstformen der Natur, which portrayed Haeckel’s radiolarians, microscopic organisms found in the depths of the ocean.
This first idea led me to a shape of pure geometry, the fullerenes molecule, also known as buckyball, a sphere formed by an ordered combination of pentagons and hexagons. As a result, the Dandelion resembles a wonderful shape from nature”.
Dandelion can be considered as one single lamp or a combination of lamps. Inside, every shade several LED circuits are hidden, which can be lit all at once or by sections to meet the requirements of the room and the time of day. Outside, the LZF wood veneer enfolds every geometrical shape, like cones sinking at different depths into the heart of Dandelion. The result is a very original lamp, a geometric puzzle of light which resembles one of the most basic forms of life.
4. FUNNY FARM, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab
FUNNY FARM, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
5. FISH, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab
FISH, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Fish is modelled on one of the original pieces by Isidro Ferrer, a friendly fish with legs which has become one of the first large-scale light sculptures with in the Funny Farm project. Developing the piece was a real challenge, both technically and from the point of view of the design.
The external structure of Fish, made from poplar and elm wood by Manolo Martin, was built using the traditional Valencian “vareta” technique, which consists of creating 3D structures through the use of wood strips treated with water. The inside holds 24 balls of light; hand blown glass spheres of various sizes hand crafted in Granada, placed at different heights inside the fixture. The carefully studied layout produces a captivating effect, as if a small universe of luminous orbs lived inside Fish.
What is the ideal habitat for Fish? Lobbies, relax areas, zoos and children’s hospitals are all spaces Fish and its Funny Farm friends could well in. Where do you imagine yours to be? Fish could be where ever you imagine it to be.
6. ELEPHANT, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab
ELEPHANT, by Isidro Ferrer & LZF Lab. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Elephant is the other Funny Farm animal we chose to convert into a light sculpture. Like all elephants, it has big ears, a trunk, even its own legs, and a body standing more than a meter and a half tall. To turn Isidro Ferrer’s vision into a large-scale lamp, LZF has again drawn on the experience of the craftsman Manolo Martin.
Just as he did with Fish, Manolo used the “vareta” technique to shape the three spheres which constitute the body and the head of Elephant. Its luminous heart, at the centre of the sculpture, is diffused through a natural wood veneer internal lining.
7. HI COLLAR, by Ray Power
HI COLLAR, by Ray Power. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
As small as itmay be, the Hi Collar lamp is a bold statement of intent. The wall lamp is designer Ray Power’s solution for a new product we wanted to add to our catalogue, a design mainly addressed to the contract market.
“…I designed Hi Collar with simple, sensual lines and a subtle finish and is inspired by the stiff shirt collars worn in the late 19th century. The lamp forms a curve with a depth of barely ten centimetres in order to meet the ADA requirements in the United States which meant I had to respect specific technical requirements which, in turn, conditioned the design from the beginning”.
Ray Powerman aged to design a stylish, functional lamp shaped like a shirt collar. Hi Collar is made for small spaces and is ideal to attract the visual attention of customers in hotels, offices and restaurants.
8. KOI, by Inocuo The Sign & LZF Lab
KOI, by Inocuo The Sign & LZF Lab. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Koi is a huge carp made of light and wood, a spectacular light structure, half-lamp, half-sculpture. Koi, based on the character created by Inocuo The Signis the longest running project at LZF LAB, beginning in 2009 with the Armadillo lamp. The inspiration for this wonderful idea came from an interlacing wood system and the transparencies it produces when it is lit.The system, consisting in the overlaying of wooden slats, as if they were scales, is called the “Koi Fabric”, used for making illuminated walls.
In 2010 this fabric turned into the skin of a disturbing animal, a wooden carp which fed on light in a Motion Graphics film production. We had the fabric, transformed into scales, the carp which fed on light, and also a lot of material from the LZF LAB. Finally, in 2013, we could no longer resist and set out to actually build it. A long process which would not have been possible without the collaboration of the artist of this piece, Inocuo TheSign, the creator of the “Koi” movie.
The result is a stunning handcrafted piece measuring more than three metres from head to tail. Koi consists of a wooden frame, constructed using traditional techniques, which supports the skin, made of dozens of small wood veneer pieces.
9. NEW WAVE, by Ray Power
NEW WAVE, by Ray Power. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Few designers know LZF and can interpret our wood veneers the way the Irishman Ray Power does. Ray has been collaborating with us since 1998, designing the Link (2007) and the Air (2008) lamps, now two of the most popular LZF products, having achieved critical acclaim, with prizes such as the Red Dot and the Chicago Good Design Award. Ray presents New Wave.
“…New wave is a lamp built around a simple structure with which I was experimenting with to find new ideas on how to enhance the expressiveness of the LZF wood veneer in combination with light. The result has allowed me tore turn to more organic and sinuous shapes, in contrast with the more geometric design of the Escape lamp of my previous project, for example”.
New Wave is composed of two parallel rectangular wood panels, one set inside the other, creating sinuous, natural curves which produce an effect of solidity and achieve a light, elegant structural balance. Moreover, the inside/outside contrast is enhanced by the different colours of the inner/outer veneers, thus adding a new range of nuances and possibilities to the LZF catalogue.
10. PIKNIK, by Belén Moratalla, Cristina Planells e Inelén Ortín
PIKNIK, by Belén Moratalla, Cristina Planells e Inelén Ortín. Photography © María Mira & Cualiti Photo Studio.
Piknik is the result of a competition organized for young designers by the design collective, Surtido and LZF. The design studios were asked to create a cordless rechargeable products in our wood veneer. The winners were Belén Moratalla, Cristina Planells and Inelén Ortín, who at that time made up the design studio Macalula.
“…Our design is intended to be a tremendously functional lamp. It is portable, rechargeable and offers numerous possibilities: you can take Piknik with you wherever you go, use it at home or away, at a restaurant or on the terrace or balcony.
Piknik incorporates a rechargeable battery which lasts up to eight hours, a tubular piece of veneer covering the light source through which light emerges, and a handle at the top. In addition, the lamps hangs freely allowing it to rock by movement or the breeze creating a candle like effect that adds poetic touch to this new LZF product”.
