DESIGN NAME: Little Bishop
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Pendant Light Hook
INSPIRATION: For years, Dominique Hunter of Hunter and Richards was frustrated with the makeshift method in which cable hung pendant lights were positioned and secured. The common solution at the time was not appropriate for many of the great lights she used in her interiors.
So she enlisted the help of her partner Antony Richards to create an elegant and natural way to hang pendant lights in her projects.
While managing their design practice, Antony used his spare time and background in jewellery design to carefully hand craft a hook that would suspend cable hung ceiling lights with no knot, clamp, bolt, screw or clip.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The first ceiling hook designed specifically for cable hung pendant lights, the Little Bishop positions and holds your light fittings in style.
Skilfully shaped and cast by hand, the cable is guided to cloak the Little Bishop with no knot, and a seamless hang from the ceiling makes it genuinely unique in form and function.
Where design meets art you will find the Little Bishop.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: The Little Bishop is a two piece product, post and hook. A custom fitting joins the parts and allows for the hook to be positioned at any angle relative to the direction of the incoming cable.
The electrical cable is wrapped around a cylindrical groove that uses a combination of friction and pressure to lock the cable and hence the light fitting in place. It can be retro fitted to existing pendant lights.
Available only in white, the finish is a durable, bright white undercoat that gives the customer the option of painting it to match the space, or leaving as is.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: Started in Melbourne, Australia June 2014. It was launched on Kickstarter.com in February 2015 and was successfully funded. Production commenced May 2015. Made in small batches, the Little Bishop sells to a global market from an online shop, as well as selected, specialist lighting accessory retailers in the EU, the US and Japan.
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Building Materials and Construction Components Design
|
PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Because this design has deep, spiral undercuts, it is not possible to use injection moulding without compromising the design. Flexible silicone moulds allow the reproductions to be easily removed, however this means that the moulds quickly degrade. New moulds are made from master parts after only a handful of castings.
Each casting is done by hand, each unit is cast as a one off piece. After the castings are removed from the silicone moulds, they are cleaned up by hand, and spray painted before the screws and joint fittings are hand assembled.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Fits cable diameters of 5.5 to 7mm. Maximum load of 3kg. Surface finish is undercoated, top coat ready. Overall diameter of 24mm. Hook Height is 86mm. Post heights; small 40mm, medium 80mm and large 120mm
TAGS: pendant, light, hook, pendent, hang, lamp, little, bishop, cable, hung, lighting
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: This design came about as we could not find anything like it. Extensive internet research found no other products existed for the sole purpose of positioning and hanging pendant lights.
The challenge posed in the early stages of conceptualising the design was to use no knot, clamp, bolt, screw or clip to secure the cable. This lead to a unique form that stands alone in todays marketplace.
CHALLENGE: The most difficult element of this project was getting the manufacturing specifications sorted out correctly. As this product is mainly hand cast - it has undercuts which make it unsuitable for injection moulding - making sure the production team understood and crafted each piece to a high finish standard was a challenge overcome by multiple meetings on the shop floor directly with the team.
ADDED DATE: 2015-05-04 03:28:53
TEAM MEMBERS (1) :
IMAGE CREDITS: All images Copyright Little Bishop Australia. Photographer Antony Richards.
PATENTS/COPYRIGHTS: Registered Design in Australia
|