AURORA

2019
Brief: Lighting
Aurora is a sconce light that would be used as both installation accent lighting.

INSPIRED BY NATURE

Inspired by the natural phenomenon of aurora borealis and water refraction, the light this sconce produces is uniquely colourful, and varied in quality and texture. My project direction started with experimentation. I knew I was inspired by water, and the effects that light had on it. From there, I experimented with both the actual materiality of water, and recreating the effect of water. After concluding that creating a light that would use water itself is too unfeasible, I landed on two recreations of the effect I was looking for. When I experimented with bent transparent acrylic it refracted light in a contained, solid way. When I used a dichroic film combined with a transparent blue one, it reflected the light instead, creating a scattered, ethereal, wavy effect.

IDEATION TO DEVELOPMENT

I ideated the forms through finding a way to house these effects, and eventually found my form through a mix of 3D prototyping and refinement through sketches. I used to cardboard and paper to sculpt forms quickly, as I'd planned to use a planar material to build the body of the light to contrast the quality of the light. From this experimentation I was able to focus in on the process of light refraction and then reflection.

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

After settling on a form using chipboard, I was able to refine the die for the sheet metal body before redrawing it using Fusion and exporting it as a DXF pattern for fabrication with a CNC plasma cutter. After that I used the sheet metal brake to create the structure from the flat form and spray painted it grey.

FINAL DESIGN

In an installation context, the wiring would be installed through the wall, giving it a more streamlined look, but for personal settings, it can be wall mounted with the wire hanging straight down. It provides mood lighting in a personal context, and accent lighting for installations. For future iterations of my light, I can see different packs of film being sold to create different effects i.e with a cooler collection of colors it looks more like water, with warmer colors, it looks like fire. The user would be able to customize them easily as the magnets allow for easy detachment and reattachment.