Lighting The Way

Creative and collaborative installations have always been part of Saturday Indesign, and there were some ingenious examples made for the

2019 event under the theme of ‘Community’. One of them, created by UPSTAIRS_ for Journey East, focused on the sculptural mouth-blown Tala bulbs sold in the showroom, each of which contains a spiral LED filament. Explains Dennis Cheok, Creative Director at UPSTAIRS_, “We took a cue from Tala’s singular manifesto – elevating the humble bulb into a self-sufficient lamp in itself. We decided to pair and contrast this modern, highly technical luminaire with its oldest, most traditional counterpart – the plaster ceiling rosette – and make it a singular entity that marries the old and new.” For dramatic impact, UPSTAIRS_ multiplied the pairing to create a levitating geometric structure and also incorporated interactivity via a dimming function through an old-school rotary dial. The parts of the installation were constructed at UPSTAIRS_’ workshop as a reusable modular kit of parts. Photo: Vernon Wong.