A sculptural pendant light inspired by the elegance of natural movement. Designed and developed using precision wood laser-cutting, with layered, wave-like geometry that diffuses light into intricate shadows. A study in how digital fabrication can create functional yet emotionally resonant objects.
Light is architecture. The Aurora Lamp was designed around that idea: not as a fixture that provides illumination, but as a surface that sculpts it.
Context
A UAX Fab Lab project: design and fabricate an object that demonstrates what digital fabrication can produce when the process is treated as a design tool, not just a production method.
Approach
Geometry
Each layer is a parametrically generated wave profile, laser-cut from 3mm birch plywood. Thirty-six individual pieces stack concentrically around a central diffuser. The wave frequency increases toward the outer layers, creating a moiré-like interference pattern when light passes through.
Fabrication
All parts were cut on a 60W CO₂ laser cutter from a single sheet of Baltic birch. Assembly is tool-free, with interlocking tabs and slots designed with 0.1mm kerf compensation for a friction fit that holds under the thermal cycling of the bulb.
The shadow effect
The real design lives on the walls and ceiling. At different dimmer levels, the shadow patterns shift from tight geometric moiré to soft, organic forms. The lamp is never the same twice.
My role
I designed and fabricated this lamp personally in the UAX Fab Lab: parametric geometry, laser cutting strategy, and full assembly. Every cut and every joint is mine.
Impact
The lamp was fabricated and is currently displayed in the UAX Fab Lab, a working object in the same workshop where it was made, a daily reminder that digital fabrication can produce things that are both functional and worth looking at.
