Major Project

My Major Project was a lighting design that originated from a model I made in 2nd Year. Our task was to come up with a sculpture which represented the word and theme 'White'

My initial model was created with two milk bottles, a mirror, a china bowl and a piece of silk. I felt that it represented 'white' because it looked fairly simple and soft but with some structure. I tried to create the illusion of a ballet dancer, in a tutu.

The next task was to transform your sculpture into a light, whilst changing the colour of the object to black.
To do this I simplified the form, stripping it down to just two milk bottles. Painted the inside of the bottles black but leaving one end transparent. I then put a light in it and the idea was that when you tipped the whole piece upside down the light would turn off, using a tilt switch.

The only problem with that was, you couldn't tell if the light had turned off, as it was painted black and would just shining on the surface it was placed on.

The next development was to add a curved base, so when the sculpture was tilted the light would turn on and when standing upright, it would be turned off. This then caused the problem of how to make it stand up.

After months of experimentation, the light was able to be self supported. With the use of ball-bearings in the base the light had enough weight at the bottom to counter balance the shade. The base also had a slight lip which it could rest on to stop it from tipping over.

This was where I left the project at the end of second year.