“New tools create new forms and the world of lighting has always displayed a strong inclination towards innovation and progress, not least because economic and environmental questions demand new levels of efficiency.” This was Ross Lovegrove’s comment on his current collaboration with LG Display, the outcome of which will be presented at Euroluce in a setting by the Korean Group dedicated to ‘The Light of Inspiration’.
OLED (an acronym of Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and modules will be centre stage, both as light sources and sources of innovative inspiration for the world of design and architecture. The inherent technical specifications – light, thin and flexible, in addition to a quality very similar to natural light – make this special luminous material a tool of great creativity and experimentation for designers. By taking advantage of the physical properties of OLED, Lovegrove, long an exponent of a multidisciplinary design that marries ‘organic essentialism’ with innovation, presents two different concepts of light fittings inspired by marine creatures. Pyrosome has the name and graceful form of the luminescent organisms scattered within the depths of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: a curved, reticulated shell made with 3D printing encloses thin strips of OLED that give a suffused and organic lighting effect, made possible by the small size and lightness of the modules.
On the other hand, Medusa emphasis flexibility (with a radius of curvature of 20 mm), by joining a rigid, circular element to eight ‘soft’ strips of two lengths that curve differently, based on the weight placed on the tip and the gravitational force. This evidence of the high performance level and infinite design freedom offered by OLED presented by Ross Lovegrove is the latest authoritative collaboration in a long series promoted by LG Display to define new paradigms in the lighting sector: the most recent have included a competition launched in collaboration with the Grimshaw Architects studio, the OLED architectural installation ‘Tree Bar’ by AB Rogers, the LG Signature pavilion designed with Jason Bruges for IFA 2016 and the work presented by Ron Arad at the latest 100% Design of London ‘Envelopes’.
