[nervous system] sells a variety of unique products, and we are very grateful for their efforts in sharing the elements of the design and manufacturing process. This time, the working details of designing luxury lampshade attracted our attention.
Top: finished lamp. Bottom: partially assembled.
The finished lampshade is spherical, but it is completely made of laser cut flat packaging wood, which is specially designed to minimize deformation when assembled into a curved shape. These fragments themselves are reminiscent of puzzle cells; Complex, interlocking cell shapes found in many plants.
As usual, the [nervous system] uses a lot of mathematical and computational design to come up with a solution. Each unique lamp panel is the result of a process that to some extent implements a technology called “variable surface cutting” for cutting the shape of parts. They also provide two beautiful animations that demonstrate how to generate part boundaries and hole patterns in the 18 unique parts that make up each lamp.
As for self-made, they are cut from wood veneer by laser, and it takes an hour or two for end users to assemble them. Watch the video overview, just below the page break.
We’re glad [nervous system] took the time to share such details, just as they came up with the best wood type for laser cutting their unique puzzles instead of saving them themselves.
