Light As Air
London, England
May 2006
The celebrated product designer Paul Cocksedge will display an installation of his new and limited edition light sculptures, seventy-five of which will be exhibition together at Rabih Hage. Each one of these elegant sculptural pieces is unique and will be numbered and signed by Paul Cocksedge as part of a limited edition series.
A rising star of lighting design – the young British designer Paul Cocksedge creates visually spectacular and technically ingenious lights that celebrate the magical and transformative qualities of illumination.
Born in London in 1978, Cocksedge studied industrial design at Sheffield Hallam University and product design under Ron Arad at the Royal College of Art in London. Since graduating from the RCA in summer 2002, Cocksedge has emerged as one of the UK’s most prolific young designers. He has exhibited his work at the Design Museum, Powerhouse Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum and presented his work in major international cietes, such as Sydney, Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Istanbul, Cologne, Miami, and Toronto.
He was one of the four designers nominated for the Design Museum’s Designer of the Year prize in 2004.
These beautiful new lights were borne out of Cocksedge’s experiences with blowing glass; he wondered whether other materials could be blown in a similar manner. With this in mind Cocksedge concentrated his efforts on blowing PVC plastic and the results are extraordinary. Instead of a glass-like texture and form, objects began to appear that looked as though they have been created on a potter’s wheel, but with a super high gloss finish.
Each light is unique and that can be attributed to the design process. A machine had to be carefully adapted to heat PVC – as the heated material is blown, long organic shapes emerge; these forms are then cut by Cocksedge so that each piece has an individual form and height. An LED light source is concealed within each sculpture – the light emanates from the inside and only out through the opening at the top, and is programmed to convey the light as ‘breath’ as it very calmly fades from on to off. The breathing of the light as it escapes from the opening of the sculpture relates back to the heart of the concept – blowing air to create form.
These pieces can be used as desk lamps or free standing lighting designs and will be sold individually, orin sets of two or three, therefore allowing the collector to decide upon their own composition.
In the base the concealed circuitry holds three settings, on off or ‘breathing’. The 360-degree connector in the base allows each lighting sculpture to be rotated and positioned for precise composition and positioning of a projection on the ceiling.