Aerial

Aerial (h)  Aerial (v) 

These lighting objects were conceptualized around the sculptural potentials of air, light, and empty space. The point of departure was a traditional craft object called a “bamboo wife” which is a woven bamboo tube — roughly two-thirds the length of the human body which serves as a kind of long pillow in the summer months and helps to circulate air and bring coolness to one’s sleep. It is a kind of low-tech air-conditioning and can be even further cooled in a well during the day to give it a slight chill on a hot and humid night. Combining this woven bamboo object — whose purpose is to hold air and empty space with light created a new type of large-scale lighting piece. The bamboo frame was then either woven with strips of handwoven white ramie cloth, or covered in a sheath of white ramie to further emphasize the ephemeral, intangible nature of air and light. The object was then detailed and finished by creating crisp geometries for hanging and power. Aerial was a series of lighting objects designed for Architectural Digest’s 2016 Emerging Designer platform shown at Design Shanghai.