You can’t really say “that chair is red”. Actually, the chair is reflecting red light while absorbing green and blue light. It is light that colors the world. My CMYK lamp plays with the mystery of light and color casting an elusive network of lines of cyan, magenta and yellow light on the ceiling.
It was first on display during the Eindhoven Design Academy’s 2011 Graduation Show where newly-graduated students are given a unique platform to show-case their work and where they hope to make their mark in the world of design. With this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in mind I decided my creation was to be as far removed from what’s obvious and predictable as possible. Also,I wanted to be as true to myself as I possibly could. It is these principles that have led to my design of the CMYK lamp. It is not designed to demonstrate how and why, but to show that light is the true custodian of color. Going by the overwhelming response my lamp generated, both during the Graduation Show and after, I can say I have achieved what I set out to achieve. Taking advantage of LED-light technology, I have been able to create a lamp that has never been.
LED technology has revolutionized lighting, and sooner rather than later, it will lead to the replacement of the conventional light bulb in the home and elsewhere. Its popularity and range of applications are increasing rapidly due to some remarkable properties LEDs have. Specifically, they are very small in size, consume very little power, and are able to produce extremely high light intensity outputs. Even more important for the CMYK lamp is LED lights’ capability to emit light in different colors. It is this particular property that has enabled me to show how the primary colors of light, red, green and blue, on the one hand, and the pigment colors, cyan, magenta and yellow, on the other, interact. The effect it produces may be called the aesthetics of LED light. More generally, LED technology has given me maximum freedom in the overall design of my lamp. And the great thing is I’ve only just begun to explore its vast range of possibilities. There’s more to come, the CMYK lamp is just the beginning.
The future of LED light is bright.