In an attempt to study the material properties of Birch plywood pieces, Richard Sweeney and Liam Hopkins of Manchester based design studio Lazerian, stumbled upon a design that cast such a beautiful shadow that they decided to create a lampshade out of it.
© Richard Sweeney
What started out as an experiment by the duo to come up with a CNC-cut module to mould into a variety of configurations (with the help of screws and wing nuts) that could then be furthered into a plethora of objects of daily use such as tables, lamps – anything that requires a base structure – led to the formation of the lampshade that you see above.
© Richard Sweeney
Feeding the material constraints of the ply, the studio used computer-aided methods to conceptualise forms stable enough for these base structures. The duo used 1.5 and 3mm Birch ply on a cutting bed size of 750 square mm and the lampshade that they arrived at in the process is by no means is the end product of this experiment, but rather a happy coincidence that they managed to stumble upon. Some would call it a stroke of serendipity – Studio Lazerian chooses to call it the Light Modulator.
Project info:
Architects: Studio Lazerian
photographer: Richard Sweeney
Designer: Liam Hopkins and Richard Sweeney
Function: Lighting
Size: 1400mm X 800mm
Shamita Chaudhary is a former assistant editor at Arch2O and the driving force behind India’s sustainable construction movement. An architect and circular economy expert, she founded the Malba Project in 2021 to combat construction and demolition (C&D) waste in Indian cities through research, advocacy, and practical action—an effort born during a striking 2018 trip to Manali . Over at Arch2O, Shamita leveraged her editorial acumen to spotlight circular design strategies and environmental stewardship. Her writing and insights challenge architects to rethink not only how we build, but how we dismantle—and rebuild—toward a more regenerative future.