Roly-poly - modular lighting

ROLY-POLY

Enameled modular lighting

Roly-poly toy, source | Enamel statue from iron basins by Ferenc Lantos 1968, acb Gallery, source

Inspirations

This family of enamelled lamps has a connection to another group of works born in the former “Architectural Enamel Art Camp” in Bonyhád.

Although the creators there deliberately avoided using the word “sculpture”, they still created spatial elements and “outdoor statues”, which expanded the scope of flat-panel experimental works with their sculptural structure and elements evoking totem columns. Besides Ferenc Lantos, János Fajó and Gyula Pauer also incorporated ordinary objects to their works; ordinary pieces of socialist everyday life, such as the laver and the bucket. (Moreover, they used scrap metals destined to waste from the factory yard!)

Roly-Poly has risen from another ordinary everyday object, the popular, metal stamped roly-poly toy. It evokes the consolidating hungarian 70’s (the Kádár regime) and the Soviet-style previews of the rough and charming world of enamelled metal children’s toys at once. Besides this cultural sociological origin, the luminaire also creates parallels using the formal gestures and elementary geometry of the toy.

DESCRIPTION

The standing lamp version of the family is also the eponymous main piece, the name Roly-poly suggests.

Here, the roly-poly form is also paired with a matching mode of operation: the weight hidden in the sphere tilts the lamp out of the vertical axis, on the other hand, with the help of this weight, the user can also operate and wave the lamp. The outer mantle of the head-evoking funnel receives the scouring light from inside the sphere thus making the lamp indirectly bright, especially suitable as mood lighting. Uninterrupted wobbling is also supported by the fact that the power cord is not connected to the lamp from below, from the sphere, but through the funnel.

The pendant lamps of the “Roly-poly” family evoke and further enliven the former “outdoor statues” from Bonyhád. While 1 or 2 luminaires stacked on top of each other can be seen as traditional or customary, by increasing the number of elements, the overall appearance can become more and more sculptural. The fastening system behind this idea even makes it possible that the stringing of pendants might reach the floor. As the individual lamp elements still provide indirect light, the multi-element, strung “totem poles” also result in an increasingly accentuated and spectacular play of light, enhancing the plasticity and symbolism of the object.

The light sources of the lamps are warm-white colour temperature LED modules. Their brightness can be adjusted, which – as a mood lighting – can be an important user expectation. According to the plans, while in the standing version, the light deflection funnel is scheduled to perform the switching itself, the suspended versions will be operable with a wall control switch. The visible cable sections are wires covered with textile weaving.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Like all pieces of Burnt Geometry, the lamp family was made by Hungarian implementers and manufacturers. The use of local infrastructure was an important consideration in the definition of both technologies and materials.

The components of the luminaires are made of sheet metal with metal spinning, and their colouring follows rather strict principles: the two hemispheres are always different colours, the funnel is always white, but the colour palette used is narrow, currently only available in different combinations of red, blue, white and black.

The enamel factory in Bonyhád, which has been mentioned above many times as a preview, still operates today, mainly producing traditional enamelled dishes and boards. Enamelling the lamp family might not be a new area for the workers/professionals of Bonyhád, but it may open up new gates in the long run, further helping their marketable operation.

The structural development, the optimization of series production and the assembly are provided by LumoConcept.

The design of the “Roly-poly” lamp family also fits into the scheme that is characteristic of the entire “BurntGeometry” collection – which is the strongest possible representation and commitment to the sustainability criteria. In the case of lamps these involve the use of metal and the operation of LED technology as a lower energy lighting method. Fire enamelling is a recyclable surface treatment process, making it an ideal solution to replace the more common plastic-based powder coating. With the “Roly-poly” enamelled lamp family, we have taken the first step in rediscovering this technology. In the future, we will examine the new possibilities and sustainable aspects of enamelling which also allows for greater variety in the surface treatment of the lamp.