Gold Lighting Products and Fixtures Design · 2021
Cage Lighting
- A' Design Award 2021 Gold Winner in Lighting Products and Fixtures Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: Usta Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 53,148
- Verification code 88E3501740 · Verify this award
About Cage Lighting
Cage is a lighting series made of hand-blown glass units held inside metal cages. The glass forms are produced with hot glass blowing, while the metal cages are formed with a traditional mesh system. One of the cages is a pinter, a woven trap made for fishing by Mediterranean fishermen. The amorphous blown shapes refract light at different rates, creating a crystalline effect and casting patterned shadows on surrounding surfaces. The series includes suspended and floor-standing versions in different sizes. The intent is to connect light, glass and the idea of freedom.
Cage Lighting by Egemen Kemal Vurusan exemplifies a distinguished approach to contemporary illumination design wherein functional necessity and sculptural ambition achieve remarkable synthesis, positioning this work within broader conversations about craft revival, geometric abstraction, and the phenomenology of light in inhabited space. The fixture draws upon venerable traditions of woven and latticed light vessels, perhaps evoking ancestral connections to Mediterranean fish traps, Eastern lantern constructions, and modernist experiments with wire and transparency, while articulating a distinctly contemporary formal vocabulary through its precise triangulated mesh structure. Technical accomplishment manifests in the seamless integration of the rigid geometric exterior cage with the organic, seemingly naturally-formed interior diffuser, this material pairing creating visual tension that energizes the object beyond mere functional adequacy. The designer demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how light behaves when mediated through multiple translucent and perforated layers, the resulting luminous quality neither harsh nor flat but rather richly modulated with subtle gradients and projected geometric shadows that extend the fixture's presence into surrounding architecture. Thematic resonances suggest meditation on containment and release, structure and freedom, the mathematical and the organic, inviting consideration of how contemporary design might honor handcraft traditions while embracing industrial precision. The oblate spheroid form carries associations with celestial bodies, pods, and vessels, lending the fixture an almost animate presence that transcends utilitarian classification. One might observe how the warm metallic tones and soft interior glow create an atmosphere of intimate welcome, suggesting applications in spaces devoted to contemplation, hospitality, or domestic sanctuary. The viewer is invited to consider how light fixtures shape not merely illumination levels but emotional atmospheres, and how this particular solution balances visual weight with apparent weightlessness, solidity with transparency, regularity with variation.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Cage lighting is produced with hot glass blowing and metal forming techniques. The amorphous and blown shaped units provide light refraction at different rates. In this way, it is aimed to create an illusionic and crystalline effect on the glasses. Emphasizing the communication between light and freedom and the organic bond with a transparent, warm material like glass is the main idea in the design.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Cage lighting series includes lighting in different forms and sizes. The design suspended from the ceiling is 65cm x 65cm x 30cm. The design with wooden legs is 64 cm x 36 cm x 165 cm.Each lighting unit of the Cage series has a special wooden box. Lighting designs placed in this box are detected and prevented from moving. Glasses are packed in a separate wooden crate. It is placed from the top of the lighting during installation.
- Tags
- Cage, Glass Lighting, Upcycle, Light of Transparency, Optical Effect, Lighting Design, Glass Design
- Production Technology
- Metals used as cage symbols in the Cage lighting series were produced with a traditional mesh system. One of the metal cages produced in different shapes and sizes is the 'pinter' used for fishing. This fishing cage is specially produced by Mediterranean fishermen for the Cage series. The glasses in the cage were produced by the artist / designer in different forms using the hot glass blowing technique. In the glass factory, three hundred glasses were produced with the blowing technique. It was then put into the annealing furnace to prevent breakage during the process. The burrs of the glasses that came to room temperature were cleaned in the cold working shop. Adjustable light is visually impressive.Finally, the glasses are placed in metal cages in the form of stacks and offer different views.
- Design Challenge
- Many attempts were made in the production process in terms of shape and sustainability. Filling the cage completely with glass was one of the most difficult parts of this design. However, placing 5 bulbs equally is one of the difficult parts of the production process.
- Project Duration
- Cage lighting, the first prototype of which was produced in Istanbul in 2015, made its first important exhibition in 2018 at the "Design Week Turkey" organization.
- Operation Flow
- Cage lighting is one of the best examples of forward transformation. The adventure of the cage used as a fish cage turns into light and reflects a visual feast with light. In addition, the shadows emitted by the light change the ambience of the environment. It takes the lighting design to a different dimension in interior design. The Cage series can be evaluated with its artistic touch to the lighting industry with collaborations in the architectural field.
- Research
- The design phase for the Cage lighting series started at the end of undergraduate education in 2015. The transparency of glass and its interaction with light have been investigated in different sources. Technically and theoretically, illumination books have been studied.
- Inspiration
- This design is based on the relationship between glass and the refraction of light. The infiltration of light by finding an absolute path in captivity was used over glass material. The motto of the Cage Series is not to illuminate the spaces, but to make them livable. That's why bondage has inspired the cage image that completes the design.
- Image Credits
- Photographer Serhat Ozdemir, Cage Lighting Series, 2018
Colors of Cage Lighting
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