The need for more sustainable manufacture is driving the growth of traditional plant sources and novel biomaterials in lighting, as demonstrated by the light fittings made from natural materials shown here
Edited By Jill Entwistle
LIGHT FITTINGS made from natural materials are clearly nothing new. In fact they started out that way come to think of it. But there is a definite trend not only to use more obvious materials such as wood, rafia, seagrass, coconut shell and seashell, but to explore the possibilities of other less orthodox materials such as plant roots and mycelium, primarily for sustainability reasons.
On average, bio-based products emit 45% less greenhouse gas emissions than the fossil materials they replace, according to research conducted by Radboud University, published in Nature Communications.
However, as Sioban Imms, a colour, material and finish (CMF) and sustainability strategist, pointed out in a recent piece in Dezeen, it is crucial to look at the whole product picture. There is no point using a natural material if it creates a monoculture or entails decimating rainforest or destroying nature in order to cultivate it.
According to the makers, the following are mindful of the products’ sustainability hinterland, in some cases lab-cultivated to avoid depleting natural resources, or are found materials which are fashioned by local artisan labour. ‘In our hands,’ says Let’s Pause, ‘a fallen palm leaf becomes an intriguing lamp.’
Rootfull
While leaves are a traditional material for making going back millennia, Zena Holloway has gone to the root of the matter. An underwater photographer, she founded Rootfull after seeing the devastating effects of plastic pollution in the oceans. She resolved to help find a solution, setting aside her camera to specialise in material innovation.
She began by growing mycelium in her basement before encountering the tangled root system of a willow tree in her local river. This inspired her to try another approach which culminated in the cultivation of wheatgrass. Using templates carved from beeswax, the shoots of the plant grow to 20cm over 12 days while the roots bind below to form a naturally woven structure. It’s then harvested, washed, dried and treated with natural ingredients that keep it flexible and durable.
‘The root weaves itself into fabric that is biodegradable, pollution-free, water-efficient and estimated carbon neutral,’ says Holloway. ‘The entire process incorporates organic and locally sourced materials. Water is recycled from runoff, and any excess shoot or seed is repurposed as animal fodder, leaving no waste behind.’
Shortlisted at Surface Design Awards 2024, the material is used in fashion (clothing and jewellery) and also a range of lighting. Designs are not so much made to order as grown to order. Customers can track the life of their unique lamp with fortnightly email updates from the Rootfull studio that show them how the textile is growing and then the process of crafting it into the final piece.
The Root Wall Light, mounted on a wire frame, is inspired by the shape of the Medusa jellyfish. Measuring 50x50x15cm (HxWxD), its delicate, interwoven network of roots are revealed by the internal glow of a 7W warm white (2700K) LED source.
The Hanging Pod Lamps, recalling microscopic sea organisms known as diatoms, are grown into a pillbox-like shell of overlapping halves. They can be used as individual pieces or as part of a larger installation.
They come in three sizes: large (60x30x30cm), medium (50x25x25cm) and small (50x20x20cm), and all lights are supplied with black cotton or natural jutecovered cables. www.rootfull.com
Let’s Pause
Established in 2013, Barcelona-based Let’s Pause specialises in products, mainly lighting, made by artisans out of a range of primarily plant materials, including cane, esparto, couro, palm leaf and rushes.
Couro, which Let’s Pause describe as ‘vegetable leather’, is the leaf of the American oil palm, which grows in South and Central America. The leaves specifically protect the tree’s flowers when they bloom in March, then fall to the ground, when they are gathered to be used to make the luminaires.
Their fibrous texture and vivid chocolate colour makes them reminscent of leather with a similar resilience and shine. Highly malleable, the palm tree leaf can be moulded to any shape using steam – they are also used to make hats – a process that has to be carried out by hand.
The lampshade of the self-explanatory 8 Leaves pendant design measures a substantial 20x90cm, and has a 2.5m matte black cotton electric cord, a black lampholder and plug, and a brown aluminium frame.
Image Credit: Ivan Bassols Rodenas
The Pendant Couro features four superimposed, unfolding palm leaves. This design reveals the cross-fibrous structure of the leaf, joined by an overlock seam, a technique used to edge and join pieces. White linen fabric is sewn on to the palm leaves to increase the reflectivity of the light.
Let’s Pause
The fique plant used for the Maar designs is indigenous to the Andean mountains. Closely related to sisal and similar to agave, but with bigger leaves, the crop can be harvested year-round and long leaves are cut from the plant every three to four months. Using age-old natural techniques, the loose and pure fibres of the plant leaf are extracted.
These are woven in a form of crochet. The shades are then sewn by hand to an aluminium structure which provides the form. The resultant woven texture creates a subtle play of light and shadow.
Image Credit: Ivan Bassols Rodenas
There are two shapes: the rounded form of the Maar Stone (67x67x37cm), which can be used as a pendant, table lamp or floor lamp, and the Maar Drop (47x47x77cm) which resembles a droplet of water. For a more sculptural effect, the two can be used together with the Maar Drop placed directly over the Maar Stone.
Ateljé Lyktan
Image Credit: Ivan Bassols Rodenas
The possibilities for natural materials lie not only in developing new products but also revisiting old ones, as in the case of Ateljé Lyktan’s Superdupertube, a new iteration of its 1970s Supertube technical office luminaire. It is the result of a partnership with leading Norwegian architect Snøhetta to pioneer sustainable solutions in lighting design. The collaboration focuses on material innovation, with the teams searching for an option that would enable a locally sourced solution with a smaller ecological footprint.
Initial investigations into pine cones and coffee grounds led to the discovery of hemp, characterised by its strong fibres and minimal environmental impact. A PLA (polylactic acid) material derived from sugarcane reinforces the hemp fibre to create a biodegradable polymer free from fossil oil or gas. As well as offering the required strength, the organic material mix, enhanced with the sugarcane starch, is also more sustainable in an agricultural sense. Hemp, an ancient crop with versatile applications, grows abundantly without depleting the soil.
It not only reduces CO2 emissions by more than 50%, surpassing traditional aluminium variants, but also allowed the product to be seamlessly integrated into Ateljé Lyktan’s existing production processes – the first project where a material based on hemp has been produced using an existing extrusion process. (Homage to the original Supertube’s innovation with aluminium extrusion.)
Features such as the louvre and side covers are injection-moulded also using a hemp and sugarcane material mix tailored to the production method.
‘The key improvement involves a complete revamp of the material and the integration of a smart light system,’ says Snøhetta partner Jenny B Osuldsen. ‘The extensive material research journey, culminating in the use of hemp and sugar canes as the foundation for the new material, marks just the beginning of our quest for more sustainable, regenerative solutions.’
One of the serendipitous benefits of using natural materials is their individuality. The colour of hemp varies with different crops and therefore creates variations in the luminaires. This also influences the colour temperature of the light. The LED strips emit a warmer tone through the material. The sources are available in two colour temperatures: 4000K (tuned to 3800K ambient light) and 3000K (tuned to 2800K ambient light).
The luminaire comes in four lengths. The diagonal louvre reduces glare through longitudinal and diagonal light shielding and gives a distinctive character to the fixtures.
Industrially compostable, the profile has also been designed for easy assembly and disassembly by enabling components to slide in place without glues and minimal use of screws. This also makes it possible to easily replace parts, repair malfunctions, and update lighting technologies in the future.
MushLume
MushLume’s award-winning biofabricated lighting collection is grown from mycelium, the roots of mushrooms, now becoming widely used as a material including in furniture making.
The lampshades are grown using a sustainable crop – hemp – that is combined with mycelium, a rapidly renewable living organism. In just a few days, the mycelium grows, cultivating a thick network of hyphae (the branching filaments that make up the mycelium) binding to the hemp substrate (a byproduct of the hemp industry) and solidifying into a solid structure within the custom lampshade moulds. After the mycelium has fully matured, the lampshades are demoulded, dried and heated, creating a stable, inert and 100% biodegradable product.
Production processes require very little energy or water and at the end of its lifecycle, it can be composted, adding nutrients back to the soil rather than lasting for hundreds of years or releasing toxins.
The range includes pendants and wall fittings, one of the most popular being the Hemi Pendant which has the largest diameter dome structure, measuring 58.5×58.5×30.5cm, and featuring a 6W LED source. Mycelium is naturally white and over time may take on more golden tones as it ages. www.mushlumelighting.uk
Studio Arp
Material Matters, which was at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, from 18-21 September, as part of the London Design Festival (14-22 September), featured lighting by Rootfull, Mushlume, Studio Arp and others. www.materialmatters.design
Alkesh Parmar has pioneered the use of local waste material for more than a decade using materials such as orange peel. A new body of work uses two very different materials made from waste orange peels. One is formed through the method of meticulously handcutting, sewing, and shaping, during the drying process, to create a fabric-like material (exemplified in his globe diffuser for his pendant light). The second material, with its paper-like quality, is made from orange peel pulp through an intricate immersion relating to drying processes. www.instagram.com /studio_arp
