England-based designer Zak Stratfold has created the Apsis Lamp.
This brief – set by Belgian wood bending experts G. DesMet – asked me to design a product using readily available laminated components from their extensive product catalogue; a refreshing inversion of the typical mantra ‘form follows function’ Zak Stratfold
Apsis is based on the circle’s most fundamental quality – rotational symmetry. The laminated beech wood body revolves freely around a limestone trey base, without the need for the complicated mechanisms commonly associated with adjustable lamps.
In placing the bottom ring over the circular stone base, a basic bearing is created, allowing the lamp to endlessly rotate. The cable and LED components are hidden within the body and head, creating a clean, uninterrupted aesthetic that emphasises the lamp’s simple geometry.
Items within the trey are orbited and illuminated by the lamp head, which in turn pivots through a range of 180 degrees, the light waxing and waning as it is cast around the room.